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A  SKETCH   OF  CHILL 


EXPRESSLY    PREPARED    FOR 


THE  USE  OF  EmilGRANTS, 


FROM    THE 


UNITED  STATES  AND  EUROPE 

TO    THAT   COUNTRY. 

WITH  A  MAP, 

AND  SEVERAL  PAPERS   RELATING  TO  THE  PRESENT  WAR  BE- 
TWEEN THAT  COUNTRY  AND  SPAIN,  AND  THE  POSITION 
ASSUMED  BY  THE  UNITED   STATES  THEREIN. 

By  DANIEL  J.  HUNTER. 


NEW    YORK: 

Printed  by  S.  Hallet,  No.  60  Fulton  Street, 

1866. 


'88347 


0 


V66 


CONTENTS. 


FIRST  PART. 

Page. 
Preface, ** 

I.  Position  and  Limits  of  Chili, 5 

II.  Climate, ^ 

III.  Topography, 7 

rv.  Geology, >^ 

V,  Hydrography, ■ '  "    

fi.  Coast  and  Islands, • 12 

VII.  Botany  and  Zoology, 14 

VIII.  History, 15'^ 

IX.  Government, 20~ 

X.  Treaties  with  Foreign  Nations, 21 

XI.  The  Public  Revenue, 22 

XII.  Commerce  (Statistical  Tables), 24 

xiti.  Progress  of  Steam  Naviaation, 31 

XIV.  Agriculture  (Statistical  Retui-ns),. 36 

XV.  Mines, 40 

XVI,  Coal  and  Coal  Fields, 41 

'.  ^ri.  Railways  and  Roads, 42 

•    III.  Manufactures, 44 

..!x.  Late  Progress  of  Chili, 44-— 

xx.  Emigration  and  Colonization, 47 


SECOND  PAET. 

Page, 

Preface,  .  - 3 

i.  Lecture  Before  the  "  Traveler's  Club  "  of  New  York 

-  THE  Present  Condition  AND  Prospects  of  Chili, "■. .  5 

;.  Peculiarities  of  the  Geography  of  Chili, G 

i!.  Its  Unity  of  Race, 6- 

III.  Variety  of  Climate, 7 

IV.  Immense  Extent  of  Coast, 7 

v.  Particular  Influence  of  the  Ocean, H 

VI.  Peculiar  Features  of  the  Geology  of  Chili, 8 

VII.  The  Three  Kingdoms  of  Nature, 10 

viii.  Wealth  in  Silver, .^ 11 

IX.  Immense  Production  of  Covdkrf. 12 

X.  Its  Agricultural  Wealth, .f...     ....  13 


ij.  CONTENTS. 

PAG  R. 

XI.  The  Society  of  Chili, 13- 

XII.  Santiago,  Capital  of  Chili, ].4 

XIII.  Historical  Hints, 15*^ 

XIV.  Influence  of  the  United  States, i  6 

XV.  Honors  Paid  to  Washington  and  Lincoln, 17 

XVI.  Government  and  Political  Institutions, 18 

XVII.  Laws  on  Foreigners, 19 

XVIII.  The  Army, 20' 

XIX.  Charities, 20 

XX.  Principles  of  Self- Government, 20'' 

XXI.  Journals, 21 

XXII.  Public  Education, 21  ' 

XXIII.  Railways, 2'2 

XXIV.  Commerce, 24 

XXV.  Finances, 2'! 

XXVI.  The  "War  with  Spain, 2'o 

XXVII.  Leading  article  of  the  New  York  "Evening  Post"  on  the 

Lecture, 21* 

II.  Adddess  Delivered  in  Panama,  on  the  8th  November, 
1865,  ON  THE  Origin  and  Character  or  the  War  Be- 
tween Chili  and  Spain. 33  - 

III.  Letter  of  B.  Yicuiia  MacKenna  to  the  Editor  of  "  La 

Epoca,"  of  Madrid,  upon  the  Real  Causes  and  Motives 

of  the  War  Between  Chili  and  Spain, 43 

IV.  The  Monroe  Doctrine — Grand  Meeting  at  the  Cooper 

Institute,  January  6,  1866,  in  Defense  of  the  Repub- 
lics OF  Chili,  Peru,  Mexico,  and  St.  Domingo, 50 

I.  Speech  of  William  CuUen  Bryant, 57 

11.  Letter  from  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair, 58 

m.  Letter  from  Senator  Nesmith  (Oregon), 59 

IV.  Letter  from  Senator  Conness  (California),   62 

V.  Letter  from  Hon.  D.  Owen  (Indiana), 63 

VI.  Letter  from  Daniel  S.  Dickenson,  United  States  District 

Attorney  for  New  York, 64 

VII.  Letter  from  Hon.  T.  Van  Horn  (Missouri), 65 

VIII.  Letter  from  Hon.  I.  Baker  (Illinois), 66 

IX.  Letter  from  Hon.  Charles  Stitgreaves  (New  Jersey), —  .  67 

X.  Letter  from  Hon.  J.  A.  Garfield  (Ohio), 68 

XI.  Letter  from  Senator  Wade  (Ohio), 68 

XII.  Letter  from  Major-General  Sickles , . . ,  .  69 

xiii.  Letter  from  Hon.  J.  A.  Kasson  (Iowa), 69 

XIV.  Letter  from  Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax,  Speaker  of  the  House 

of  Representatives 70 

XV.  Letter  from  Hon.  Hamilton  Ward  (New  York), 70 

XVI.  Letter  from  Hon.  R.  W.  Clarke  (Washington). 71 

XVII.  Letter  from  Hon.  H.  Maynard  (Tennessee), 71 

XVIII.  Letter  from  Hon.  J.  I.  Randall  (Pennsylvania), 72 

XIX.  Letter  from  Hon.  J.  H.  Lane  (Kansas), 72 

i    XX.  Letter  from  Major-General  Mussey, 73 

XXI.  General  Resolutions  Approved  in  the  Meeting, 73 

XXII.  Speech  of  F.  Tomlinson,  Esq., 76 


CONTENTS.  iii. 

I  PAGE. 

XXIII.  Resolution  on  Chili, 76 

XXIV.  Speech  of  B.  Vicuna  MacKenna, 77 

x'.^iV.  Resolution  on  Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the  United 

States, 82 

'XXVI.  Speech  of  Hon.  S.  S.  Cox, 82 

Y.  Banquet  Given  to  the  Representatives  of  the  Press 
OF  New  York,  and  to  the  Diplomatic  Corps  of  South 
America  Residing  IN  that  City, 84 

YI.  The  Unoin  League  Club — Remarks  of  B.  Yicuna  Mac- 

KEXNA  ON  the  Telegraphs  OF  South  America 89 

VII.  Eulogy  on  Abraham  Lincoln,  from  a  South  American 

Point  of  View 94 

VIII.  Motion  Offered  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  of  Chili 
IN  Honor  of  Abraham  Lincon,   by  B.  Vicuna  Mac- 

KENNA .    113 

IX.  Postscript 117 

I.  Attempted  arrest  of  B.  Yicuxa  Mackenna,  Confidential 

Agent  of  Chili  in  the  United  States,  and  preliminaries  of 
his  trial  for  alleged  violation  of  the  neutrality  law  of  the 
latter  countrj-,  "  by  fitting  out  an  armed  expedition 
against  the  dominions  of  the  Queen  of  Spain" 117 

II.  Letter  from  Mr.  YicuSa  Mackenna  to  the  Editor  of  the 

Neio  York  Herald  on  the  circumstances  of  his  attempted 
arrest 118 

III.  Mr.  Vicuna  Mackenna's  affidavit  in  Court,  claiming  and 

proving  his  diplomatic  privileges 121 

IV.  Letter   from   Hon.    Thomas   H.   Nelson,  Minister  Pleni- 

potentiary of  the  United  States  in  Chili,  to  the  Hon. 
Secretary  of  State,  W.  H.  Seward,  and  other  documents 
relating  to  Mr.  Vicuna  Mackenna's  mission  in  the  United 
States 123 

V.  OflBcial  Documents  of  the   Foreign    Department  on  Mr. 

Yicuna  Mackenna's  Diplomatic  Immunitj- 125 

VI.  Judgment  of  the  Panama  Mercantile  Chronide  on  the  trial 

and  arrest  of  Mr.  Yicuna  Mackenna 126 


PREFACE 


The  present  little  work  comprises  two  parts  under 
separate  titles.  The  first  contains  a  physical  descrip- 
tion of  Chili  with  statistical  data  up  to  the  present 
time.  The  second  relates  to  the  actual  war  between 
that   country   and    Spain. 

Although  in  the  last  part  of  this  pamphlet  some  idea 
of  Chili  is  given  to  the  general  reader,  we  deem  it  important 
to  go  still  further  into  details,  in  order  that  a  country  so 
admirably  fitted  to  .benefit  emigrants  may  be  better 
known. 

For  this  purpose  we  give,  in  this  preliminary  part  of 
our  little  work,  a  more  minute  description  of  Chili,  paying 
particular  attention  to  its  geography,  climate,  agriculture 
and  mines,  and  especially  to  the  various  laws,  privileges 
and  colonies  which  have  been  established  in  that  generous 
and  well-governed  country,  in  order  to  favor  the  introduc- 
tion of  emigrants  from  all  nations  and  of  all  religious  creeds. 

The  lecture  upon  Chili,  which  we  publish  in  the 
second  part,  given  at  the  Travelers'  Club,  by  Mr.  Vicuna 
Mackenna,  was  of  a  pictorial,  rather  than  a  statistical  and 
positive  character.  Consequently,  we  shall  endeavor  to 
supply  that  deficiency,  but  in  such  a  way  that  one  part 
will  complete  the  other,  without  useless  repetition. 

With  these  few  explanations,  we  have  tried  to  condense, 
into  a  few  pages,  such  important  information  as  would  make 
of  this  little  pamphlet  a  real  vade  mecum  or  easy  guide 
for  emigrants. 


POSITION  AND  LIMITS  OF  CHILI. 

Chili  lies  west  of  the  Andes,  and  between  the  parallels 
of  lat.  23°  and  55^  59'  S.,  having  a  coast  line  of  about 
2,270  m,,  and  a  breadth  varying  from  200  m.  to  40  m. 
Its  area  is  variously  estimated  by  different  geographers 
at  146,300  sq.  m.  (Lieut.  Gilliss),  348,000  (Abbe  Molina), 
170,000  (Lieut.  Strain),  and  240,000  by  German  geogra- 
phers. Chili  is  bounded  N,  by  lat.  23°  S.,  which  separ- 
ates it  from  Bolivia,  E.  by  the  Andes,  which  form  the  di- 
viding line  between  it  and  the  States  of  the  Argentine 
Confederation,  S.  and  W.  by  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It'  in- 
cludes in  its  territory  all  of  Patagonia  west  of  the 
Andes,  as  the  Argentine  Confederation  does  that  portion 
lying  east  of  those  mountains. 

POPULATION  AND  POLITICAL  DIVISIONS, 

According  to  the  latest  census,  taken  in  the  Republic 
on  the  19th  of  April,  1865,  Chili  is  divided  into  fifteen 
provinces,  with  a  population  of  1,814,218  inhabitants; 
but  making  the  usual  allowance  of  ten  per  cent,  for  the 
number  omitted,  the  actual  population  cannot  fall 
short  of  2,000,000. 

In  this  proportion  the  Indians  are  not  included.  Those 
belonging  to  independent  tribes  form  a  community  of 
some  30,000  souls. 

The  emigrant  settlement  of  Llanquihue,  where  2,000 
German  agriculturists  live  in  prosperity,  and  the  military 
settlement  of  Magallanes,  are  included  in  the  full  amount 
of  the  population — the  latter  having  only  195  settlers. 


The  names  of  the  provinces  of  Chili  (which  will  be 
seen  plainly  marked  on  the  accompanying  map),  their 
capitals  and  the  population  of  each,  are  shown  in  the  fol- 
lowing table: 

Provinces. 
Atacama 
Coquirabo 
Aconcagua 
Valparaiso 
Santiago 
Colchagua 
Curico 
Talca 
Maule 
Nuble 
Concepcion 
Arauco 
Valdivia 
Llanquihue 
Chiloe 


This  census  shows  an  'increase  in  the  population  of 
375,098  over  that  of  1854,  and  of  730,417  over  that  of  1843. 
In  the  course  of  nature,  the  population  of  Chili  will  double 
every  twenty-five  years;  but  the  current  of  emigration 
which  has  commenced  to  flow  into  the  country,  and  which 
'will  be  much  greater  after  the  war  with  Spain  is  over,  will 
undoubtedly  make  her  one  of  the  most  populous  Kepub- 
lics  of  South  America. 

CLIMATE. 

The  climate  of  Chili  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  world. 
Beino-  in  the  south  temperate  zone,  its  summer  answers 
to  our  winter,  December,  January  and  February  being 
the  hottest  months.  During  three  months  little  or  no 
rain  falls,  and  the  thermometer  sometimes  rises  to  90°  or 
95°  Fahrenheit;  but  the  sea  breeze  at  night  cools  the 
earth,  and  renders  the  temperature  refreshing.  The  mean 
temperature  of  the  winter  months  at  Valparaiso  is  54°, 


Papulation  of 

Capitals. 

each  Province. 

Copiapo 

79,227 

La  Serena 

145,874 

San  Felipe 

124,050 

Valparaiso 

142,200 

Santiago 

339,218 

San  Fernando 

142,456 

Curic6 

90,589 

Talca 

100,574 

Cauquenes 

188,181 

Chilian 

123,598 

Concepcion 

146,041 

Los  Anjeles 

71,945 

Valdivia 

23,429 

Puerto  Montt 

37,619 

Ancud 

59,022 

Cotal 

1,814,218 

at  La  Serena  54.8°,  at  Santiago  49°,  at  Valdivia  46.8°. 
The  highest  temperature  known  at  Santiago  is  90°,  the 
lowest  47.5°.  At  Valparaiso,  the  highest  mean  point  in 
summer,  in  three  years'  observation,  was  78°,  the  lowest 
62°,  and  the  annual  mean  70.8°.  At  Coquimbo,  the  mean 
summer  temperature  was  63.6°,  and  the  entire  range  only 
16.8°.  At  Concepcion,  the  mean  summer  temperature  at 
3  P.M.  was  73.5°,  the  mean  for  the  year  about  56°.  In 
Valdivia,  the  mean  summer  temperature  is  60°,  that  of 
the  year  55^.  At  Santiago,  the  average  number  of  hours 
during  which  rain  fell  in  the  year,  during  26  years'  obser- 
vation, was  215|,  or  about  nine  days.  Further  south, 
the  quantity  of  rain  is  somewhat  greater;  the  island  of 
Chiloe  having  a  very  moist  climate.  Toward  the  north,  on 
the  contrary,  the  rain  diminishes  in  quantity,  and  on  the 
desert  of  Atacarna  seldom  or  never  falls.  As  a  result  of 
this  equable  and  uniform  climate,  trees,  fruits  and  flowers 
of  both  tropical  and  temperate  regions  flourish  well.  In 
some  parts  of  the  country  the  deciduous  trees  seem  to  for- 
get to  disrobe  themselves.  "  The  native  palm  and  pine 
of  Araucania,"  says  Lieut.  Gilliss,  "  the  chirimoya  of  trop- 
ical America  and  the  medlar  of  Japan,  the  magnolia  of 
Florida  and  the  olive  of  Asia,  may  all  be  found  within 
the  compass  of  a  garden,  not  less  luxuriant  in  their  pro- 
portions and  ever  verdant  foliage  than  under  the  climes 
of  their  origin."  The  atmosphere  is  remarkably  clear, 
especially  at  night.  Indeed,  so  great  is  its  superiority  in 
this  respect  over  that  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  which 
was  selected  by  English  astronomers  for  their  observations, 
that  it  is  estimated  that  a  6^  inch  achromatic  at  Santiago 
is  fully  equal  to  a  12^  inch  one  at  the  Cape.  The  crescent 
of  Venus  was  more  than  once  seen  with  the  naked  eye  by 
astronomical  observers. 

TOPOGKAPHY. 

The  surface  of  Chili  is  greatly  diversified.  Beside  the 
Andes,  which  form  its  Eastern  border,  and  which,  imless 
we  except  Ecuador,  maintain  a  higher  mean  of  elevation 
and  shoot  up  into  more  lofty  peaks  here  than  in  any  other 
part  of  their  course,  there  are  two  other  ranges,  of  less 
elevation  indeed,  but  occasionally  rising  nearly  to  the  level 
of  perpetual  snow,  which  traverse  portions  of  the  narrow 


8 

strip  which  intervenes  between  the  Andes  and  the  Pacific, 
commencing  near  the  33d  parallel.  The  more  easterly  of 
these  traverses  the  central  portion  of  the  republic,  and  is 
known  as  the  Cordillera  Central;  it  is  broken  only  by  the 
passage  of  rivers  until  it  terminates  on  the  Pacific,  oppo- 
site the  northern  end  of  the  island  of  Chiloe.  The  other, 
known  as  la  Cordillera  de  la  Costa,  or  the  coast  range, 
separating  from  the  central  near  its  origin,  follows  more 
nearly  the  line  of  the  coast,  throwing  off  spurs  oc- 
casionally eastward;  it  is  of  lower  elevation  than  the 
central  range,  and  is  in  some  parts  arable.  Beside  these 
mountain  chains,  there  are  multitudes  of  isolated  hills, 
rising  from  the  valleys,  and  forming  bold  promontories  on 
margins  of  river,  lake,  and  ocean. 

The  principal  valley  of  the  country  is  that  lying  be- 
tween the  central  chain  and  the  Andes;  but  there  are  in- 
numerable others,  lying  between  the  coast  and  the  central 
ranges,  or  guarded  by  the  outlying  spurs  of  the  Andes  or 
the  central  chain.  Of  the  mountains  of  Chili,  a  large 
proportion  are  now,  or  have  been  at  some  time,  volcanic. 
How  many  possess  this  character  cannot  now  be  ascer- 
tained; but  the  streams  of  lava  which  score  the  sides  of 
many  which  are  now  quiet,  and  the  not  infrequent  erup- 
tion of  the  fiery  flood,  as  well  as  the  occasional  emissions 
of  smoke  and  flame  from  those  still  active,  indicate  that 
the  volcanic  character  belongs  to  the  greater  part.     • 

In  the  northern  portion,  the  coast  and  central  Cordil- 
leras spread  out  into  the  elevated  plateau  known  as  the 
desert  of  Atacama,  which  rises  rapidly  from  the  coast  to  a 
height  varying  from  4,000  to  10,000  feet,  and  from  the 
comparatively  level  surface  of  which  shoot  up  mountain 
peaks  of  great  elevation,  and  often  volcanic.  By  a  recent 
proposed  convention  with  Bolivia,  Chili  relinquishes  all 
claim  to  that  part  of  the  desert  lying  North  of  lat,  23° 
South,  and  in  this  portion  of  her  territory  the  only  very 
lofty  peak  known  is  the  volcano  of  LluUaillaco,  which  Dr. 
Philippi  states  at  not  far  from  21,000  feet  high.  Few,  if 
any,  of  the  active  volcanoes  of  the  western  continent  ex- 
ceed this  height. 

Geographers  enumerate  eleven  passes  over  the  Andes, 
from  Chili  into  the  Argentine  Confederation,  one  or  two 
of  which,  however,  rest  on  tradition;  two  others,  though 
practicable,  and  indeed  comparatively  easy,  are  not  used  on 


account  of  the  opposition  of  the  Indian  tribes  in  the 
vicinity;  others  still  are  objectionable  becanse  of  their 
great  length  or  their  liability  to  obstruction  by  snow.  Of 
the  whole  number,  only  two  are  capable  of  being  used 
and  made  passable  for  wagons. 


GEOLOaY. 

The  great  belt  of  Chili,  between  the  Andes  and  the 
coast,  ranging  from  eighty  to  a  hundred  miles  in  width, 
is  traversed,  south  of  lat.  31°,  by  numerous  longitudinal 
ridges,  called  the  Cordilleras  of  the  coast,  which  are 
granitic.  Further  north,  these  spurs  are  more  irregular 
in  their  direction,  and  are  covered  in  great  part  with 
barren  sands  showing  no  trace  of  vegetation.  This  north- 
ern portion  is  of  importance  for  its  valuable  mines  of  ores, 
while  a  strip  along  the  south  coast  from  Concepcion  to 
the  island  of  Chiloe,  contains  the  principal  mines  of  bitu- 
minous coal  worked  in  South  America.  The  country  be- 
tween the  Andes  and  the  coast  is  particularly  interesting 
to  geologists  for  the  evidences  which  it  presents  of  several 
successive  elevations,  which  it  has  experienced  within 
modern  times.  Some  of  these  are  historical,  as  that  of 
1822,  when  the  coast  at  Valparaiso,  and  for  many  leagues 
north  and  south  of  it,  was  uplifted  about  six  feet.  The 
bed  of  shells  and  sea  pebbles  which  marked  its  former 
beach  is  now  that  distance  above  the  reach  of  the  highest 
tides;  and  a  succession  of  similar  collections  of  shells  of 
species  belonging  to  the  coast,  accompanying  terraces 
found  further  inland,  and  at  higher  levels,  indicate  as 
many  as  five  uplifts  of  this  character,  but  of  much  greater 
height,  the  difference  of  level  between  two  terraces  being 
found  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  and  between  the  next 
two  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  feet.  Around  the  bay 
of  Coquimbo  these  terraces  are  very  distinctly  marked  in 
the  hills;  and  as  they  extend  back  into  the  country,  they 
spread  out  into  plains,  upon  which  towns,  like  the  beau- 
tiful La  Serena,  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Coquimbo, 
are  built.  Near  Valparaiso,  comminuted  sea  shells  of 
living  species  are  found  at  elevations  of  over  five  hundred 
and  fifty  feet;  and  some,  it  is  stated,  have  been  met  with 
even  one  thousand  three  hundred  feet  above  the  sea  level. 


10 

The  most  noted  mineral  springs  are  those  of  Apoquindo, 
Colina,  Cauquenes,  Panimavida,  Cato,  Soco,  and  Dona. 
Ana;  the  principal  constituents  of  which  are  chloride  of 
calcium,  chloride  of  sodium,  chloride  of  magnesium,  and 
sulphates  of  soda  and  lime,  with  occasional  traces  of  iron 
and  alumina.  About  seventy-five  miles  east  south-east  of 
Chilian  are  found  hot  sulphur  springs,  almost  U])  to  the 
line  of  perpetual  snow  on  the  Nevada  de  Chilian.  They  are 
much  frequented,  and  are  reputed  to  possess  extraordinary 
medicinal  virtues,  particularly  the  last,  for  constitutional 
diseases  and  shattered  nature. 

HYDKOGRAPHY. 

The  hydrographic  system  of  Chili,  although  deficient  and 
scarce  in  the  north,  owing  to  the  dryness  of  the  atmos- 
phere and  the  comparative  depression  of  the  Andes,  is 
very  powerful  and  widely  spread,  particularly  in  the  region 
of  the  south  not  yet  explored.  The  lakes  are  numerous, 
but  few  of  them  are  very  large.  With  the  exception 
of  a  few  salt  ponds  or  coves  near  the  coast,  they  are 
bodies  of  fresh  water,  accumulated  in  the  valleys  high 
up  in  the  central  range  of  the  Andes.  The  largest 
is  Llanquihue,  at  the  foot  of  the  Andes,  in  the  province 
of  Valdivia;  it  is  nearly  triangular,  thirty  miles  long, 
and  twenty-two  miles  in  its  greatest  width.  Near  it, 
and  lying  in  the  same  plain,  are  Todos  los  Santos,  or 
Esmeralda,  so  called  on  account  of  its  green,  transparent, 
and  beautiful  water,  eighteen  miles  long  and  six  miles 
wide,  and  Eupanco,  twenty-four  miles  long  and  four 
miles  broad.  Puychue,  a  short  distance  north,  is  a  trifle 
larger;  and  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  further  north  is 
Ranco,  a  very  irregular  shaped  lake,  thirty- two  miles  long 
and  eighteen  broad.  Immediately  east  of  Valdivia  are 
five  small  lakes,  which  form  the  head  waters  of  the 
Valdivia  river;  near  latitude  39°  is  Villa  Rica  or  Llau- 
quen,  which  covers  more  than  one  hundred  square 
miles.  In  the  province  of  Concepcion  there  are  two  lakes 
— Guilletu6,  with  a  surface  of  about  fifty  square  miles, 
lying  high  up  in  the  Andes,  and  La  Laja,  celebrated  for 
its  picturesque  scenery,  and  for  the  beautiful  fall,  a  min- 
iature Niagara,  at  its  outlet,  a  short  distance  below. — 
North  of  these  there  are  no  lakes  deserving  the  name,  but 


11 

small  bodies  of  water,  the  product  of  the  melting  snows 
drained  into  extinct  craters,  covering  a  surface  of  from 
three  to  twenty  square  miles,  diversify  the  rugged  scenery 
of  the  rough  granite  masses  of  the  Andes. 

The  rivers  of  Chili  are  all  of  inconsiderable  length,  ris- 
ing in  the  Andes,  and  iinding  their  way  by  numerous  wa- 
terfalls and  rapids  to  the  Pacific.     When  swollen  by  the 
melting    of  the   mountain    snows,    they   discharge    large 
quantities  of  water,  and  no  inconsiderable  quantity  of  allu- 
vium, grave],  and  even  the  debris  of  rocks  into  the  Pacific, 
and  almost  all  of  them  have,  in  consequence,  considerable 
bars  at  their  mouths.     The  following  are  the  principal 
rivers  :  The  Biobio  rises  in  an  extinct  volcano  in  the  ex- 
treme east  of  the  Andes,  lat.  38°  15',  and  takes  a  general 
north-west  direction,  receiving  three  considerable  affluents 
— the  Laja,  Duqueco,  and  Bergara — and  after  a  course  of 
nearly  two  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  discharges  its  waters 
e  into    the    Pacific,  in  latitude    36°  50'.      Like    the   other 
rivers   of  the  country,  it  has  a  sand  bar   at  its  mouth, 
which  prevents  vessels  of  any  considerable  draught  of  water 
from  ascending  it.     Inside  the  bar  there  is  water  enough 
for  large  shipping.     A  canal  has  been  projected  from  the 
bay  of  Talcahuano  into  the  river  above  the  bar  to  obviate 
this  difficulty.    The  river  is  navigable  as  far  as  Nacimiento, 
nearly  one  hundred  miles,  and  maintains  a  steamer,  which 
plies  regularly  between  Concepcion  and  Nacimiento.     The 
Maule  rises  in  the  Andes,  in  latitude  35°  10'  south,  and 
has  a  nearly  due  west  course  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles;  it  is  navigable  for  small  craft  about  seventy 
miles.     The  Valdivia  rises  in  Lake  Guanegue,  in  latitude 
39°  45',  and  has  a  west  south-west  course;  its  length  is 
about  one  hundred    miles,  and  it  is   navigable   for  fifty 
miles.     The  Imperial  rises  in  the  Andes  by  several  sources, 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  parallel  of  38°  30';    its  course  is 
south-west  and  west;    its  length  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles,  of  which   about  thirty   are    navigable.     The 
Token  rises   in   Lake  Villa   Rica,    lat.  30°  5' south;    its 
course  is  nearly  due  west;  its  length  is  about  sixty  miles; 
it   is  navigable,    but    not  navigated,    on   account   ot  the 
barbarous  Indians  on  its  banks.     The  Bueno  flows  from 
two  principal  sources,  in  two  lakes  of  the  Andes,  lat.  40 
50'  and  40°  40' ;  it  has  a  course  of  about  one  hundred 
and  ten  miles,  of  which  twenty  are  navigable.     The  other 


12 

considerable  streams,  none  of  which,  however,  are  navigable, 
are  the  Maypu,  the  Rapel,  the  Itata,  the  Aconcagua,  the 
Mataquito,  the  Limari,  the  Coquimbo,  the  Huasco,  and 
the  Copiapo.  The  last,  though  at  times  a  considerable 
stream,  is  often  dry  in  summer. 

COAST  AND  ISLANDS. 

There  are  but  few  good  harbors  on  the  coast  of  Chili, 
though  in  the  multitude  of  its  small  bays  and  indenta- 
tions there  are  several  roadsteads  where,  in  fair  weather, 
vessels  may  lie  at  anchor  in  safety.  The  best  harbor  is 
that  of  Talcahuano,  in  the  bay  of  the  same  name,  which 
is  well  protected,  and  with  ample  depth  of  water  and 
room  sufficient  for  the  accommodation  of  the  largest  fleet. 
Coquimbo  is  the  next  harbor  in  point  of  safety.  It  is  well 
sheltered  on  the  west,  south,  and  east,  and  as  there  are  no 
tempestuous  winds  from  the  north,  it  is  sufficiently  secure.* 
Close  by  it  is  a  small  land-locked  harbor.  Port  Herradura, 
well  adapted  for  repairing  ships. 

The  harbor  of  Valparaiso  is  the  most  important  on  the 
Chilian  coast,  in  the  extent  of  its  commerce,  though,  from 
its  openness  to  northerly  winds  and  the  peculiar  form  of 
the  bay,  accidents  to  shipping  are  not  uncommon.  Cal- 
dera,  in  the  bay  of  the  same  name,  from  which  the  largest 
exports  from  the  silver  and  copper  mines  are  shipped; 
Constitucion,  within  the  mouth  of  the  river  Maule,  an  in- 
different harbor,  owing  to  the  bar  of  the  river  at  its  en- 
trance, but  opening  into  a  fertile  region;  Yaldivia,  an  ex- 
cellent harbor  for  small  vessels;  and  San  Carlos,  on  the  is 
land  of  Chiloe,  lat.  41°  51',  are  the  other  principal  harbors 
on  the  coast. 

Before  the  pending  war  with  Spain,  Chili  had  only  nine 
ports  open  to  direct  foreign  trade,  but  now  she  hasjifty- 
five.  The  Spaniards  have  consequently  done  a  great  ser- 
vice to  the  world.  They  have,  it  may  be  said,  discovered 
with  their  big  ships  no  less  than  fifty  new  ports  unknown 
before  to  geographers  and  merchants. 

The  ports  which  were  known  before  the  war  are  the  fol- 
lowing :  Caldera,  Coquimbo,  Huasco,  Valparaiso,  Con- 
stitucion, Tome,  Talcahuano,  Coronel,  Valdivia  and  Ancud. 

The  remaining  forty-five  now  thrown  open  to  the  world, 
free  of  all  customhouse  duties,  are  Chacao,  Castro,  Melipulli, 


13 

Calbuco,  Rio  Bueno,  Carampangue,  Lebu,  Colcura,  Lota, 
Lotilla,  Penco,  Lirquen,  Curanipe,  Buchupureo,  Llico, 
Tuman,  San  Antonio,  San  Antonio  de  las  Bodegas, 
Algarrobo,  San  Jose,  Zapallar,  Papudo,  Pichidangui, 
Los  Vilos,  Tongoi,  Gruayacan,  Totoralillo,  Huanta,  Car- 
rizal  Bajo,  Sarco,  Pena  Blanca,  Flamenco,  Chanaral  de  las 
Animas,  Paposo,  Tartal,  Cobre,  Pan  de  Aziicar,  Obispito, 
Dichato,  San  Vicente,  Quinteros,  Copiapo,  Pajonal,  To- 
toral,  San  Lorenzo, 

j  The  islands  appertaining  to  Chili  are  numerous.  The  ^ 
most  important,  and  indeed  the  only  ones  of  much  intrin- 
sic value  to  the  republic  are  those  of  Chiloe  and  its  arch- 
ipelago. Possessed  of  a  healthy  though  moist  climate,  a 
soil  of  extraordinary  fertility,  and  with  no  elevation  above 
2,600  feet,  a  temperature  in  which  ice  does  not  form,  and 
frost  and  snow  are  exceedingly  rare,  Chiloe  may  well  be 
called  the  garden  of  the  Pacific.  It  yields  fine  crops  of 
wheat,  barley,  and  potatoes  every  year,  and  the  domestic 
animals  propagate  rapidly,  and  contribute  largely  to  the 
commerce  of  the  island.  The  potato  is  indigenous  here, 
and  by  cultivation  has  reached  a  high  degree  of  excellence. 
The  inhabitants  are  amiable  and  hospitable,  but,  owing  in 
part,  probably,  to  the  beneficence  of  nature  in  providing 
them  a  support  with  but  little  labor,  they  are  inclined  to 
indolence.  The  principal  islands  of  the  archipelago  are 
San  Pedro,  Lilchuapu,  Caylin,  Tanqui,  Lemuy,  Quehuy, 
&c.,  &c.  There  are  in  all  more  than  one  hundred  of  these 
islands,  of  which  twenty  are  settled,  and  have  good  harbors. 
These  all  abound  in  seals,  otters,  and  shell-fish,  and  are 
well  supplied  with  wood  and  water.  Southward  of  these 
are  the  Gruaytecas  group  and  Huafo,  similar  in  their  gen- 
eral character.  On  the  coast  above  Chiloe  are  several 
smaller  islands,  the  principal  of  which  are  Mocha,  lat.  38° 
23';  Santa  Maria,  lat.  37°  3';  and  Quiriquina,  in  the 
mouth  of  Concepcion  Bay. 

The  most  renowned  of  all  the  Chilian  islands  is  the 
group  rendered  immortal  in  connection  with  De  Foe's 
"Robinson  Crusoe,"  Juan  Fernandez.  Aside  from  the 
fictitious  interest  thus  bestowed  upon  them,  these  incon- 
siderable islands  (for  there  are  two  principal  and  several 
smaller  ones)  have  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  South  Pacific.  First  discovered  by  Juan  Fer- 
nandez, in  1563,,  they  were  abandoned  in  a  short  time  by 


14„ 

the  colonists,  who  left  their  goats  and  fruit  trees.  Subse- 
quently, they  became  a  favorite  resort  for  pirates  and  buc- 
caneers, and  afforded  to  Lord  Anson  for  three  months,  a 
refuge  where  his  crew  might  recover  from  the  scurvy,  and 
his  vessels  be  refitted.  They  were  visited  by  Ulloa  in 
1741,  and  in  1751  an  attempt  was  again  made  for  their 
colonization  by  the  Spanish.  Government  An  attempt 
twice  repeated  during  the  present  century  by  the  Chilian 
republic  has  not  been  quite  successful. 

BOTANY  AND  ZOOLOGY. 

The  vegetable  and  animal  kingdom  of  Chili  present  a 
singular  contrast,  the  latter  being  very  deficient.  There 
are,  consequently,  no  magnificent  wild  beasts  in  the  country. 
No  lions,  tigers,  leopards;  neither  the  small,  ferocious 
reptiles  which  are  the  curse  of  most  South  American 
countries.  It  has  been  observed  that  Chili,  being  the 
healthiest  country  in  the  South,  is  precisely  the  one 
which  produces  most  medicinal  plants,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  is  free  of  all  venomous  animals  or  reptiles. 

The  potato  is  an  aboriginal  of  Chili,  as  well  as  a  very 
delicious  kind  of  bean,  called  by  the  aborigines  porotos,  and 
a  great  many  kinds  of  sago  roots  are  found  wild,  particu*- 
larly  on  the  banks  of  the  Biobio.  A  very  sweet  kind  of 
juice  called  cJmfio  is  made  out  of  this  fruit. 

Many  of  the  forest  trees  are  of  great  value  for 
building  and  ornamental  purposes.  The  araucaria,^  a 
species  of  pine,  the  alerce,  a  cypress,  with  a  dark  rich 
heart- wood,  the  roble,  tiqui,  mafm,  muermo,  and  may  ten 
are  all  valuable  and  durable  woods.  The  coligue,  a  species 
of  bamboo,  is  in  very  considerable  demand  for  thatching 
roofs. 

The  animals  of  Chili  are  not  as  numerous  as  those  of 
the  countries  east  of  the  Andes.  The  mammals  are  compar- 
atively few.  M.  Gay,  an  eminent  French  naturalist,  enumer- 
ates seven  species  of  cheiroptera,  mostly  of  the  bat  tribe; 
twelve  species  of  caynivora,  embracing  four  of  the  cat 
tribe,  three  foxes,  one  weasel,  two  polecats,  the  nutria  and 
the  otter;  six  species  of  the  phocidce,  embracing  the  seal 
and  his  congeners;  one  marsupial,  the  didelphys  elegans, 
peculiar  to  Chili:  twelve  genera  and  twenty-five  species  of 
rodents,  of  which  twelve  belong  to  the  mouse  family;  the 


15 

chinchilla  and  its  congeners,  and  the  cavy  or  mountain 
rabbit.  There  are  only  two  species  of  the  edentata,  the 
dasypiis  and  pichiciego,  the  latter  a  very  rare  animal, 
found  only  in  Chili.  There  are  three  ruminants,  the  gua- 
naco,  the  largest  of  the  llama  tribe,  and  two  of  the  deer 
tribe,  the  pudu  and  the  huemul.  There  are  four  species 
of  cetacea,  two  dolphins,  the  sperm  whale,  and  the  right 
whale.  There  are  eleven  species  of  reptilia,  five  of  which 
are  saurians,  four  ophidians,  one  frog,  and  one  toad.  The 
birds  are  more  numerous.  The  raptores,  embracing  the 
condor,  the  vultures,  hawks,  and  owls,  are  largely  repre- 
sented. The  great  order  of  incesso7es  has  numerous  rep- 
resentatives of  its  every  tribe  and  family,  many  of  them 
of  superb  plumage,  and  some  of  wonderful  powers  of  song. 
The  dove  and  pigeon  tribes  are  also  found  in  considerable 
numbers,  and  the  waders  (grallatores)  and  swimmers  (na- 
tatores)  are^almost  numberless,  several  of  the  species  being 
peculiar  to  the  western  coast  of  South  America. 

Among  the  fishes,  we  find  three  species  of  the  perch 
tribe,  all  new;  one  of  the  atherinidce,  the  kingfish;  three 
of  the  siluridce,  one  a  new  genus  and  species;  two  clupidcm 
both  new,  one  a  new  species  of  the  shad;  one  cheirodo7i,  a 
new  gei?ius  of  the  characini  family,  and  a  new  myxinoid, 
having  an  affinity  with  the  lamprey  eel  of  our  northern 
waters.  Crustaceans  and  mollusks  are  abundant,  especially 
in  Chiloe  and  the  other  southern  provinces,  but  have  not 
been  very  fully  examined.  The  choros.  a  peculiar  species 
of  oyster,  exists  in  great  quantities  along  the  coast,  and 
forms  a  favorite  dish  with  the  inhabitants,  particularly 
those  of  the  Quiriquina,  in  the  bay  of  Talcahuauo,  which 
have  really  a  delicious  flavor. 

HISTOKY. 

'The  history  of  Chili,  as  well  as  that  of  all  the  Euro- 
pean colonies  of  North  and  South  America,  offers  very 
little  interest  up  to  the  time  in  which  they  shook  off  the 
bonds  of  their  mother  countries. 

Of  aboriginal  Chili  little  is  known.  Prior  to  1450,  the 
present  territory  was  inhabited  by  the  ancestors  of  the 
Indian  tribes  no  longer  to  be  found  there,  who  seem  to  have 
all  descended  from  a  common  stock,  and  called  themselves 
by  the  general  title  of  Mapu-che,  people  or  children  of  the 


16 

land.  They  were  subdivided  into  a  number  of  tribes, 
but  all  spoke  a  common  language.  In  1450,  the  reign- 
ing Inca  of  Peru,  Yupanqui,  formed  the  project  _  of 
extending  his  sway  over  the  Chilian  territory,  and  having 
stationed  himself  with  a  powerful  army  in  Atacama,  des- 
patched his  trusty  lieutenant,  Chinchiruca,  with  ten 
thousand  men,  southward  to  subdue  the  Mapu-che. — 
With  that  tact  which  characterised  the  policy  of  the  Incas, 
Chinchiruca  sought  to  win  rather  than  conquer  these  rude 
and  warlike  tribes;  and  such  were  his  powers  of  persuasion, 
that  tribe  after  tribe  yielded  to  the  "  children  of  the  sun," 
and  in  six  years'  time  the  inhabitants  of  Northern  Chili, 
for  six  hundred  miles,  from  the  Atacama  frontier,  paid 
fealty  to  the  Peruvian  monarch.  But  his  sway  was  destined 
to  receive  a  check.  Pushing  further  south,  his  officers  and 
soldiers  encountered,  on  the  further  bank  of  the  river  Maule, 
a  warlike  tribe  known  as  the  Promaucaes,  who  returned  a 
defiant  answer  to  the  summons  and  representations  of  the 
Inca,  and  refusing  all  overtures  for  peace,  attacked  the 
Peruvian  troops,  A  desperate  battle  followed,  lasting 
three  days,  in  which  both  armies  were  too  thoroughly 
shattered  to  renew  the  conflict.  Upon  hearing  of  the  re- 
sult of  this  battle,  Yupanqui  wisely  resolved  to  *forbear 
offensive  warfare,  and  to  maintain  only  what  he  already 
possessed. 

When  some  eighty  years  later,  the  Spaniards  had  over- 
thrown the  empire  of  the  Incas,  they  found  Chili  owning 
a  nominal  allegiance  to  the  Peruvian  monarch,  and  resolved 
to  subjugate  that  country  also  ;  and  Diego  Almagro, 
from  the  double  motive  of  glory  and  gold,  led  an  expedi- 
tion across  the  mountain  passes  of  the  Andes.  When 
he  reached  Copiapo,  one-fourth  of  his  Spanish  troops  and 
two-thirds  of  his  Indian  allies  had  perished  from  cold,  fa- 
tigue and  starvation.  They  were  received  by  the  people 
very  kindly,  and  met  no  opposition  till  they  reached  the 
territory  of  the  Promaucaes,  where,  like  their  predecessors, 
they  found  a  foe  so  brave  that  they  were  fain  to  pause  and 
retrace  their  steps, 

Almagro  and  the  remainder  of  his  force  returned  slowly 
and  sadly  to  Peru,  and  five  years  elapsed  ere  another  ex- 
pedition to  Chili  was  attempted.  Pedro  Valdivia,  a  pru- 
dent and  able  commander,  was  selected  for  this  service, 
and  so  well  did  he  arrange  his  plans  that,  though  occasion- 


17 

ally  meeting  with  hostile  bands  of  Indians,  he  penetrated, 
without  serious  difficulty,  to  the  river  Mapocho,  and  en- 
camped upon  the  present  site  of  Santiago.  Finding  the 
location  pleasant  and  the  adjacent  country  fertile,  he  here 
founded  a  city,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  the  patron 
saint  of  Spain. 

Scarcely  had  he  fortified  himself  in  his  new  town,  how- 
ever, before  the  Indians,  availing  themselves  of  his  tem- 
porary absence,  assailed  it,  and  would  have  taken  it  but 
for  the  hasty  return  of  the  commander;  but  though  balked 
of  their  intended  prey,  they  returned  again  and  again  to 
the  charge,  till  Valdivia  was  compelled  to  send  for  re-en- 
forcements from  Peru.  After  the  arrival  of  these  he  pro- 
ceeded southward,  and  though  the  Promaucaes,  the  ancient 
foes  of  Almagro  and  of  the  Inca's  forces,  seem  to  have 
offered  no  effectual  opposition  to  his  progress,  he  found, 
after  crossing  the  Itata,  which  formed  their  southern  boun- 
dary, a  new  foe,  braver,  fiercer,  and  readier  for  the  fray 
than  any  he  had  hitherto  encountered — the  Araucanians, 
for  the  first  time  appearing -on  the  page  of  history.  So 
terrible  and  unexpected  was  their  first  attack,  that  it  well 
nigh  annihilated  Valdivia's  army,  and  compelled  him  to 
retreat  to  Santiago,  and  eventually  to  return  to  Peru  for 
further  re-enforcements. 

He  returned  in  1550  with  a  large  and  well-appointed 
force,  and  founded  the  city  of  Concepcion,  on  a  site  now 
known  as  Penco.  Here  the  Araucanians  rallied  their 
forces,  and  with  four  thousand  men  under  Caupolican,  at- 
atcked  the  new  city,  and  with  a  more  determined  valor  than 
any  Spanish  general  had  before  witnessed,  resisted  the  skill 
and  bravery  of  the  Spanish  troops.  It  was  not  until  the 
fall  of  their  leader  that  they  would  yield  an  inch  of  ground. 
Conflict  after  conflict  followed.  The  Indians,  after  a 
time,  were  led  by  a  young  Auraucanian  captive  named 
Laataro,  who  had  been  reared  in  Valdivia's  family,  whose 
skill  as  a  commander  made  him  a  formidable  foe. 

In  1553,  Valdivia  was  captured  by  the  Indians,  and  put 
to  death.  Emboldened  by  their  success,  the  Indians  de- 
stroyed .Concepcion,  resisted  all  attempts  to  rebuild  it, 
and  eventually  marched  upon  Santiago,  and  placed  it  in 
great  peril,  but  were  finally  repulsed,  and  the  brave  Lau- 
taro  fell. 

During  the  next  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  a  protracted 


'    18 

war  followed,  the  brave  Araucanians  never  yielding  the 
country  to  their  hated  invaders.  This  aboriginal  love  of 
independence  has  been  ascribed  as  a  natural  reason  of  the 
powerful  feeling  shown  afterward  by  the  Chilians,  heirs  in 
some  respect  of  those  courageous  men,  in  sustaining  their 
honor  and  independence  against  all  foreign  people. 

With  the  exception  of  the  war  with  the  Araucanians, 
in  which  many  Grovernors  of  Chili  lost  their  power  and 
life,  and  which  was  terminated  in  the  peace  of  Negrete, 
in  1793,  there  occurred  nothing  worthy  of  the  notice  of 
posterity  during  the  dominion  of  the  Spaniards.  But  in 
1810,  the  energetic  Chilians,  feeling  tired  of  being  a  mere 
appendix  to  the  viceroyalty  of  Peru,  which  country  they 
supplied  with  flour,  hides,  tallow,  and  other  coarse  articles 
and  manufactures,  rose  against  Spain,  guided  by  the  most 
powerful,  influential  and  aristocratic  families  of  the  coun- 
try. Among  those  who  occupied  the  first  rank  was  that  of 
the  Carrera,  whose  centre  were  the  enterprising  brothers, 
Jose  Miguel,  Juan  Jose,  and  Luis,  and  that  of  the  Larrain, 
called  popularly  the  family  of  the  eight  hundred,  owing 
to  its  vast  relationships. 

The  Chilians  fought  two  years  bravely  against  the 
troops  sent  from  Peru,  but  the  two  leading  families  of 
the  country  having  unfortunately  divided  in  feuds,  the 
common  enemy  took  advantage,  and  the  army  commanded 
by  the  Carrera  being  defeated  in  the  battle  of  Rancagua, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Santiago,  on  the  1st  of  October, 
1814,  the  cause  of  their  independence  was  temporarily 
lost. 

But  in  1817,  the  fiimous  San  Martin  came  to  the  rescue 
of  Chili,  traversing  the  Andes  from  the  Argentine  Repub- 
lic with  an  army  of  four  thousand  men,  and  defeating  the 
Spaniards  twice  in  Chacabuco  (February  12th,  1817),  and 
on  the  plains  of  Maipo,  in  the  outskirts  of  Santiago 
(the  5th  of  April,  1818),  assured  forever  the  independence 
of  the  Republic. 

General  O'Higgins,  a  native  of  Chili,  and  son  of  the 
most  distinguished  vice-king  6i  Peru,  Don  Ambrosio 
O'Higgins,  an  Irishman  by  birth,  was  appointed  supreme 
chief  of  the  Republic,  as  an  honor  paid  to  his  bravery  and 
patriotism,  having  been  San  Martin's  most  active  lieu- 
tenant. 

San  Martin  and  O'Higgins,  once  in  power,  planned  the 


19 

liberty  of  Perii,  where  the  stronghold  of  the  Spanish 
power  lay,  and  in  1S20,  sent  a  naval  and  military  expedi- 
tion, the  first  under  the  famous  Lord  Cochrane,  and  the 
last  guided  by  San  Martin  himself  After  a  successful 
and  wonderful  campaign,  the  Chilian  army  occupied 
Lima  on  the  21st  of  July,  1821,  and  a  week  afterwards  the 
independence  of  Peru  was  solemnly  proclaimed  (28th  of 
July,  1821). 

After  a  glorious  career,  the  military  government  of 
Gen.  O'Higgins  was  superseded  by  that  of  Gen,  Freire  (Jan. 
28,  1823).  A  decade  of  troubles  abortive  attempts  at  a 
unitarian  and  federal  government,  followed,  until  the  coun- 
try was  pacified  by  the  superior  talent  and  energy  of  a  civi- 
lian, Don  Diego  Portales,  who,  although  a  merchant  by  pro- 
fession, showed  the  most  extraordinary  talents  as  a  States- 
man. Under  a  rather  despotic  Constitution  the  political  fac- 
tions were  subdued,  until  the  cords  of  power  being  too  much 
stretc^ied,  Portales  himself  fell  a  victim  to  a  military  re- 
volt, while  organizing  an  expedition  against  the  President 
of  Bolivia,  General  Santa  Cruz,  who  had  usurped  the 
supreme  power  of  Peru. 

The  Expedition  wag  carried  out.  notwithstanding  the 
death  of  Portales  (June  16th,  1836),  first  under  General 
Blanco,  and  afterwards  under  the  command  of  the  suc- 
cessful General  Bulnes,  who  completely  defeated  Santa 
Cruz  in  the  famous  battle  of  Jungay  (January  20th, 
1839),  restoring  thus  for  the  second  time  to  Peru  its  inde- 
pendence and  liberty. 

In  1841,  General  Bulnes  was  elected  President,  on  his 
return  from  Perii,  and  governed  quietly  for  two  constitu- 
tional terms.  In  1851  D.  Manuel  Montt,  an  eminent 
lawyer,  was  elected,  and  although  he  governed  with  a  party 
rather  than  with  the  nation,  he  kept  the  power  until,  in 
1861,    Don   Jose  Joaquin  Perez  was  elected  President. 

The  first  period  of  his  administration  ends  next  Sep- 
tember, and  it  is  very  probable  that  he  will  be  elected  for 
the  next  term,  owing  to  his  good  management  of  the  public 
affairs,  particularly  in  sustaining  the  honor  of  the  country 
in  the  war  with  Spain. 

This  war  is  the  great  event  of  South  America  and 
Chili,  We  have  referred  to  it  more  fully  in  the  second 
part  of  this  work,  and  we  have  only  to  say  here  that  the 
Chilians  commenced  it  gloriously,  attacking  and  taking  one 


2t 

of  the  Spanish  ships-of-war,  the  "  Covadanga/'  off  the 
port  of  Papudo,  on  the  26th  November,  1865, 

By  a  treaty  of  alliance,  Peru  takes  sides  with  Chili  in 
the  war  with  Spain,  which  was  solemnly  declared  in  Lima 
on  the  15th  January  last.  Ecuador  followed  on  the  30th 
of  January,  and  it  is  expected  that  Bolivia,  New  Granada 
and  Venezuela  will  come  forward  to  support  the  old  and 
glorious  brotherhood  of  the  South  American  Republics. 

This  struggle  cannot  last  long,  as  Spain  has  no  power 
to  carry  it  on,  and  all  the  nations  of  Europe  are  opposed 
to  her  shameful  depredations  upon  the  prosperous 
republics  of  South  America. 

GOVERNMENT. 

The  Republic  of  Chili  is  governed  under  the  rule  of  a 
very  strong  political  constitution,  framed  through  the  influ- 
ence of  the  famous  Portales,  or  at  least  of  his  party,  and 
which  was  sanctioned  on  the  25th  May,  1833.  It  is,  conse- 
quently, the  oldest  constitution  of  America,  after  that  of 
the  United  States,  and  it  is  must  be  acknowledged  that 
its  age  is  its  principal  title  to  respect. 

The  form  of  government  is  republican,  representative 
and  electoral,  all  citizens  possessing  certain  political 
qualifications  being  electors  and  eligible.  Most  of  the 
German  emigrants,  settled  in  the  south  of  Chili,  have  a 
right  to  vote,  and  have  taken  a  lively  part  in  the  politics 
of  the  country. 

The  three  political  branches  of  a  representative  govern- 
ment, the  executive,  the  legislative  and  the  judiciary,  are 
clearly  defined  by  the  Constitution. 

The  President,  or  chief  of  the  executive,  is  elected  for 
five  years,  and  is  eligible  for  a  second  term,  but  not  for  a 
third,  until  a  period  of  five  years  has  elapsed.  He  is  as- 
sisted by  a  Council  of  State,  composed  of  thirteen  persons, 
all  of  his  own  choosing,  and  removable  at  his  will.  There 
are  four  cabinet  ministers,  viz. — of  foreign  and  home  af- 
fairs, of  finance,  of  war  and  marine,  of  justice,  religion 
and  education.  They  are  responsible  for  every  official  act, 
and  cannot  leave  the  country  for  six  months  after  the  ex- 
piration of  their  term  of  public  service.  No  order  or 
document  from  the  president  is  legal  without  the  counter- 
signature of  the  minister  to  whose  department  it  belongs. 

The  Legislature  is  composed  of  a  Senate  of  twenty  mem- 


21 


bers,  elected  for  nine  years,  one-third  of  whom  go  out  of 
office  every  three  years,  and  a  House  of  Deputies,  consist- 
ing of  one  for  every  twenty  thousand  inhabitants,  elected 
for  three  years.  Government  officers  may  be  members  of 
either  branch  of  the  legislature,  and  still  hold  their  offices. 
They  may,  and  often  do,  also,  represent  more  than  one 
constituency,    j 

The  judiciary  consists  of  primary  courts,  three  courts  of 
appeal,  and  a  supreme  court.  The  judges  of  the  higher 
courts  are  appointed  for  life,  or  rather  during  good  be- 
havior, and  can  only  be  removed  by  impeachment. 

The  Government  of  Chili  has  acquired  great  credit  for 
the  management  of  her  relations  with  foreign  powers. — 
This  peculiar  trait  has  been  ascribed  to  the  natural  dis- 
creet and  quiet  character  of  the  people,  and  in  some  mea- 
sure to  the  interference  and  wisdom  of  the  celebrated  Ve- 
nezuelan savant,  Don  Andres  Bello,  undoubtedly  the  most 
famous  Spanish  writer  on  international  law,  and  chief 
clerk  for  many  years  of  the  foreign  department. 

During  the   last  forty-seven  years,    Chili   has   ratified 
not  less  than  twenty  treaties  with  foreign  nations.     The 
following  table  shows  the  names  and  the  date  of  those 
conventions  : — 
Treaties  between  the  Republic  of  Chili  ^ 


and 

the 

Argentine      Confedera- 

tion. 

- 

_         _         _         _ 

Between  Chili  and  Bolivia, 

do. 

do. 

Cerdeha, 

do. 

do. 

Ecuador, 

do. 

do. 

Spain,      -         -         _ 

do. 

do. 

United  States, 

do. 

do. 

France,    -         -         - 

do. 

do. 

Great  Britain, 

do.. 

do. 

do.. 

do. 

do. 

do.. 

do. 

do. 

Mexico,    -         -         - 

do. 

do. 

New  Granada, 

do. 

do. 

do.. 

do. 

do. 

Peru,    - 

do. 

do. 

do,         -         -         - 

do. 

do. 

do.,     -         -         - 

do. 

do. 

do.,         -         _         . 

do. 

do. 

do.,     -         -         - 

do. 

do. 

do.,        -        -        . 

Feb. 

5, 

1819 

Aug. 

30, 

1855 

Oct. 

7, 

1845 

June  28, 

1856 

June 

26, 

1855 

Apri 

[25, 

1844 

May 

16 

1832 

Sep. 

15' 

1846 

Jan. 

9, 

1839 

May. 

10, 

1852 

Oct. 

4, 

1854 

Mar. 

7, 

1831 

Feb. 

16, 

1844 

Aug. 

30 

1853 

Jan. 

20, 

1835 

Oct. 

7, 

1845 

Sep. 

12 

1848 

Nov. 

7, 

1854 

Feb. 

9, 

1856 

Dec. 

5, 

1865 

22 

THE  PUBLIC  EEYENQE. 

The  public  revenue  of  Chili  is  comparatively  sniall, 
taking  into  consideration  the  extent,  wealth  and  popula- 
tion of  the  country.  But  the  reason  of  this  is  highly 
creditable  to  the  country,  as  there  is  not  on  the  surface  of 
the  globe  a  people  less  taxed  than  that  of  Chili.  If  the 
taxes  were  only  half  of  those  established  in  the  United 
States,  or  a  third  of  those  of  England,  the  actual  revenue 
of  Chili  would  be  almost  double  that  now  collected.  In- 
deed, there  is  in  Chili,  properly  speaking,  but  one  general 
tax,  and  that  is  paid,  directly  by  the  foreign  commerce — 
— the  Custom  House  duties,  which  constitute  two-thirds 
of  the  public  revenue.  The  other  third  is  derived  princi- 
pally from  two  branches — the  tobacco  monopoly,  which 
produces  a  million;  and  a  light,  although  unequal  lax  on 
real  estate,  which  yields  a  little  more  than  half  a  million. 
Urban  real  estate  and  capital  are  not  taxed  at  all  in  Chili; 
and,  owing  to  this  unequal  distribution  of  charges,  there 
exists  a  strong  movement  to  establish  a  single  direct  tax, 
taking  as  a  basis  the  capital  or  the  revenue. 

The  amount  of  the  public  revenue  in  1863,  including 
all  its  branches,  is  shown  in  the  following  table  : 

BRANCHES.  1863, 


Customs,       -         _         -         _         - 
Tobacco  Taxes,      -         -         -         - 
Agricultural  Taxes,         -         _         - 

$4,259,533 

1,091,821 

641,474 

Taxes  on  Sales  of  Eeal  Estate, 

214,623 

Imposition  on  Capitals, 
Patents,          -.---_ 
Timber,          -         -         _         -         - 
Post  Office 

4,300 

74,316 

102,214 

123,404 

Mint, 

4,254 

Tolls, 

30,196 

Eailroad  between  Santiago  and  Val- 

paraiso,          -         _         _         - 
Eventual  Branches,         _         _         _ 

112,154 

42,365 

Total  in  1863,        -         -         .         - 

do.    in  1862,         -         .         .         _ 

Increase  in  1863,    -         -         -         . 

$6,700,659 

6,287,155 

413,504 

23 

Tiie  increase  of  the  public  revenue  during  the  last  forty 
years  is  demonstrated  in  the  following  proportion  : 

1833,  -  -  .  .  $1,770,761 

1843,  -  -  .  -  3,001,230 

1853,  -  '         -  -  -  5,552,485 

1863,  -  -  .  -  6,700,659 

The  revenue  of  the  Custom  Houses,  which  at  the  time 
of  the  breaking  out  of  the  Eevolution  of  Independence, 
gave  only  a  monthly  yield  of  $12,000,  is  exhibited  in  its 
uninterrupted  increase  by  the  following  data  : 

Proportion  for  each 
Inhabitant. 

-  -       $1,01  per  head. 
•    -  1,60     "      " 

-  -        2,35     "      " 
2;51     "      " 

Another  of  the  sources  of  the  public  treasury  is  the 
Post  Office.  At  the  end  of  the  las  t  century,  there  were 
only  three  weekly  services  throughout  the  country,  as 
there  existed  only  a  few  passable  roads.  The  postage  on 
letters,  too,  was  very  heavy  (25  cents  for  a  common  two- 
cent  letter),  and  consequently  the  communication  was 
very  limited.  But  lately  (1853),  the  new  Americna  sys- 
tem of  cheap  postage  has  been  adopted,  with  considerable 
profit  to  the  Department  and  great  benefit  to  the  people. 
In  1853,  the  number  of  letters  received  was  195,351,  and 
the  year  after,  when  the  reform  was  put  in  execution,  it 
was  nearly  doubled — 306,569  being  the  number  of  letters 
delivered  and  received  in  1854, 

The  increase  of  the  Post  Office  revenue  since  1833  is 
shown  in  the  following  table: 


Years. 

Net  Prodtict. 

1833    -     - 
1843      - 
1853    -    - 
1863      - 

-      $1,025,385 
1,735,432 
3,358,540 
4,259,534 

Year. 

Net  Revenues. 

Per  Centage. 

1833 

1843 
1853 

-  -     -     -      $20,525    -    - 

_    _     -    _      44,060  -     -     - 

-  -    -     -         52,982    -     - 

$0,02  per  head, 
■     -      0,04   "      " 
0,04   "      " 

1863 

-     -    -     -    123,404  -    -    . 

-    -     0,07   "      " 

There  are  now  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  general 
and  local  post-office  stations  throughout  the  country,  and 


24 

theservice,  except  in  the  further  provinces,  is,  in  most 
cases,  daily.  The  vast  extent  of  coast  navigation  in  Chili 
affords  peculiar  facilities  for  frequent  communication  be- 
tween its  several  provinces  and  cities.  Oopia))6,  the 
northernmost  extremity  of  the  Eepublic,  is  only  30  hours' 
steaming  from  Valparaiso,  and  Chilo6,  the  southern  ex- 
tremity, only  double  that  time. 

The  foreign  debt  at  the  end  of  1865  was  $10,678,500, 
$3,575,000  of  which  was  an  old  English  loan  of  1822,  at 
3  and  6  per  cent,  and  $7,193,500,  the  loan  of  1858,  at  4^ 
per  cent.  But  as  the  value  of  the  railroad  between  Val- 
paraiso and  Santiago,  and  the  shares  held  by  the  govern- 
ment in  other  railroads  is  represented  by  the  amount  of 
$15,778,108,  itmay  be  said  that  Chili  has  no  foreign  debt, 
or,  at  least,  that  she  can  pay  it  at  any  moment  and  be 
free  of  all  obligation  to  foreign  capital. 

COMMEECE. 

The  commerce  of  Chili  with  foreign  nations,  particularly 
with  England,  is  very  large.  It  is  represented,  indeed,  as 
among  the  first  commercial  nations  of  the  world.  The 
natural  productions  are  fitted  for  a  wide  expor- 
tation; the  wealth  of  the  inhabitants  permits  them  to 
invest  large  sums  in  foreign  and  luxurious  importations, 
and  the  fact  of  Valparaiso,  the  principal  port  of  Chili, 
being  a  kind  of  depot  for  merchandise  which  comes  around 
the  Horn  for  the  supply  of  the  south  of  Bolivia  (via  Cobija) 
and  the  north-west  provinces  of  the  Argentine  Eepublic — 
through  the  several  passes  of  the  Andes — accounts  tor  the 
prodigious  commercial  transactions  that  take  place  there 
yearly.  The  liberality  of  the  commercial  laws  conduce 
greatly  to  this  result. 

The  amount  of  exportations  from  the  country  during 
thelast  four  years  (1861-'64)  amounts  to  the  extraordi- 
nary sum  of  $89,705,771,  and  the  importations  to  $73,- 
257,851,  making  a  round  sum  of  $162,963,622,  according 
to  the  following  statistics: 

IMPOETATIONS. 

In  1861, $20,349,634 

"  1862,  ....  21,994,432 

"  1863,      .....     20,118,852 
"  1864,  ....        27,242,853 

Total,        -        -        -        -  $89/705,771 


25 

EXPORTATIONS. 


1861, 
1862, 
1863, 
1864, 


Total, 


116,676,314 
17,226,655 

-  20,487,517 
18,807,365 

-  73,257,851 


The  principal  articles  exported  in  1864  were  the  follow- 
ing: 


Copper  in  bars, 
"       rep;ulus. 
Wheat,  Flour, 
Silver  in  bars, 
Copper  Ore, 
Wheat, 


$9,506,957 
4,714,912 
2,321,090 
1,638,272 
1,268,588 
1,039,071 


The  different  countries  to  whose  markets  those  produc- 
tions were  sent  appear  in  the  last  statistical  records  in  the 
following  per  centage: 


England, 

58.41  pr.  ct.  of  total  expor 

Peru, 

-  13.93 

France, 

-      11.19 

Australia, 

-     3.59 

North  America, 

-       2.98             "                 " 

California, 

-     1.96 

Germany,     - 

1.63 

tation. 


The  principal  articles  of  importation  are  marked  thus  for 
the  same  year  (1864): 


Plain  cotton  goods, 

Refined  sugar, 

Cattle  from  Argentine  Republic, 

Calicoes,  _  _  _         _ 

Ground  sugar,  white  and  brown, 

Coal,         -         -         -         _         - 

Yerva  Mate,        -        -        - 


1970,387 
961,697 
810,896 
689.291 
647,591 
574,395 
537,368 


26 


The  countries  from  which  the  imports  were  sent  are 

England,       -         _         .         _ 
France,     -         _         _         _         _ 
Germany,      -         _         _         _ 
Argentine  Kepublic, 
North  America,      -         _         _ 
Peru,  -        -         .         _         _ 

Brazil,  -         _         .         _ 


43.46  per  cent. 
20.93 

9.11 

5.58 

5.52 

3.99 

3.92 


its    wonderful 


$16,696,921 

23,919,972 

25,003,789 

28,896,783 

3,892,994 

-  4,977,811 
12,199,862 


The   internal   commerce   by    sea,    and 
increase,  is  shown  by  the  following  figures: 
1861,  -  -  -  . 

1862, 

1863,     -     -     .     . 

1864, 

Increase  over  1863,  -  -  - 

"  1862, 

"  1861,  - 

In  the  foregoing  statistics,  the  transit  commerce  from 
Chili  to  Bolivia  and  the  Argentine  Republic,  which 
amounts  to  several  millions,  is  not  included. 

After  the  general  but  accurate  review  of  the  commerce 
carried  on  during  the  year  before  last,  we  subjoin 
some  other  minute  statistics,  which  we  deem  of  in- 
terest to  the  general  reader,  about  the  commercial  wealth 
of  Chili.  In  1855  the  imports  were  ^5,988,925;  in 
1856,  829,804,041;  and  in  1857,  $31,800,209.  The  ex- 
ports of  1855  were,  $19,110,589;  in  1856,  $18,159,522; 
and  in  1857,  $20,126,461.  The  following  table  particu- 
larizes the  exports  of  the  latter  year: 

Bars  of  gold  and  gold  coin, 

Silver  and  silver  ores. 

Copper  and  copper  ores, 

Wheat,         -  .  .  , 


Flour,     -  .  -  . 

Biscuit,  bread,  &c.     - 

Barley,  -  -  _ 

Beans,  -  _  _ 

Peas  and  maize. 

Potatoes,       -  -  - 

Wine  and  chicha. 

Nuts  and  dried  and  fresh  fruits, 

Salt  beef. 


$497,736 

4,725,655 

10,760,589 

1,050,718 

798,112 

108,223 

257.970 

24,904 

4,835 

35,506 

1,612 

89,052 

10,880 


27 


Charqiii,  or  jerked  beef, 

- 

104,173 

Butter  and  cheese, 

- 

36,055 

Tallow  and  lard. 

- 

2,729 

Hides,  horns,  and  hoofs, 

- 

501,104 

Goat,  sheep,  and  chinchilla  skins, 

40,861 

Wool, 

- 

397,643 

Assorted  provisions. 

- 

27,189 

Dried  fodder. 

- 

41,790 

Cords,  rope,  and  rigging, 

- 

18,464 

Planks  and  lumber. 

- 

265,287 

Coal, 

- 

176,765 

Guano, 

- 

5,600 

Miscellaneous, 

- 

143,009 

Total,  -  -  -  $20,126,416 

The  principal  imports  are  distilled  spirits,  ale  and  por- 
ter, alpaca  goods,  baizes,  bedsteads,  books,  buttons,  cabi- 
net-ware, calicoes,  candles,  canvas,  carpets,  carriages,  cas- 
simeres,  cigars,  cloths,  clothing,  coal,  cotton  and  woollen 
goods,  crape  shawls,  drugs,  earthen  and  glass  ware,  gloves, 
gold  in  bars  and  coin,  gunpowder,  horned  cattle  and 
horses,  household  furniture,  indigo,  iron  and  iron  goods, 
jewelry  and  cutlery,  leather,  linen  goods,  machinery, 
matches,  yerva  mate,  merino  cloths,  muslins,  molasses, 
oils,  paints,  paper,  perfumery,  pianos,  quicksilver,  raisins, 
rice,  rigging,  salt,  satin  goods,  shoes  and  boots,  silks,  sil- 
ver coin  and  bars,  soap,  steel,  straw  goods,  sugar,  tea,  tin, 
tobacco,  umbrellas  and  parasols,  velvets,  watches,  wax, 
wines,  and  wool  shawls.  The  following  table  gives  the 
quantities  of  sugar,  coffee,  tea,  and  iron  imported  from 
1844  to  ]855: 

Sugar,  Coffee,  Iron, 

Years.  arrobas.  cwt.         Tea,  Ihs.         cwL 

1844,  -    -  245,217  1,939  26,713  38,600 

1845,  -    -    330,307  1,722  31,552  52,963 

1846,  -    -  607,427  1,941  25,227  18,991 

1847,  -    -    511,837   921  33,728  14,968 

1848,  -    -  413,956  2,064  49,568  32,989 

1849,  -    -    227,097  1,447  53,032  43,956 

1850,  -    -  508,281  2,737  36,513  58,969 

1851,  -    -    850,729  1,670  80,447  38,842 

1852,  -    -  730,757  4,188  104,207  115,835 

1853,  -    -    711,635  3,069  65,895     14,176 

1854,  -    -  731,427  2,954  89,960  52,859 

1855,  -    -   1,513,815  4,518  112,264  155,740 


28 

The  imports  of  sugar  into  Vcalparaiso  from  January  1 
to  August  15,  1858,  were  336,926  arrobas  of  125  pounds 
each,  and  the  stock  on  hand  at  the  latter  period  was 
94,000  arrobas. 

The  exports  to  England  were,  in  1854,  £1,380,563; 
in  1855,  £1,925,271;  and  in  1856,  £1,700,776.  The 
imports  of  English  produce  were,  in  1852,  £1,167,494;  in 
1853,  £1,264,942;  in  1854,  £1,421,855;  in  1855,  £1,- 
330,385;  and  in  1856,  £1,946,010  The  imports  of  for- 
eign and  colonial  produce  from  England  were,  in  1854, 
£43,589;  in  1855,  £56,688;  and  in  1856,  £64,492.  The 
English  exports  to  Chile  in  the  half-year  ending  June  30, 
1858,  were  £602,956,  showing  a  decrease  of  £120,492 
compared  with  the  same  period  of  1857.  The  exports  of 
Chili  to  France  were  $218,000  in  1851,  $250,000  in  1852, 
$240,000  in  1853,  $650,000  in  1854,  and  $930,000 
in  1855.  The  imports  from  France  were  $4,800,000 
in  1851,  $3,550,000  in  1852,  $4,400,000  in  1853,  $4,- 
000,000  in  1854,  and  $5,600,000  in  1855.  The  commer- 
cial intercourse  of  Chili  with  the  United  States  has  been 
very  variable.  In  the  earlier  years  of  Californian  emigra- 
tion she  sent  large  quantities  of  flour,  grain,  and  lumber 
to  that  State,  and  took  freely  of  our  goods  in  return. 
Since  that  time  her  exports  to  "this  country  have  contin- 
ued in  large  amount,  but  she  receives  little  except  money 
in  return,  the  balances  being  mostly  sfittled  in  Euroj^e, 
where  she  is  a  debtor.  The  following  table  shows  the 
amount  of  her  commerce  with  the  United  States  for  seve- 
ral years: 


EXPORTS. 

IMPORTS. 

1849, 

-  $3,589,888 

1849, 

-  $1,100,345 

1850, 

4,012,612 

1850, 

1,911,479 

1851, 

-   3,515,235 

1851, 

-   4,594,211 

1852, 

2,062,160 

1852, 

2,048  836 

1853, 

-   2,214,153 

1853, 

-   2,157,320 

1856, 

2,467,819 

1856, 

276,389 

1857, 

-   3,742,349 

1857, 

433,957 

The  following  table  of  a  more  recent  date  shows  how 
little  the  commercial  intercourse  between  Chili  and  the 
United  States  has  increased,  or,  rather,  how  greatly  it  has 
diminished  since  the  late  civil  war  in  this  country: 


29 


Foreign  Imports  in  1864  and  1865, 


1864. 
Rice  .         .         .       $103,159 

Sugar,    raw,    white  and 

brown  .         .         .    644,027 

Sugar,  refined  .  ,  958,746 
Coal  ....  84,695 
Kerseymere  .  .  311,452 
Beer  ....  135,316 
Cotton  drilling  .  .  394,786 
White  shirtings  .  .  966,833 
Mixed  goods  .  .  444,203 
Baofging  stuffs  .  .  335,686- 
Woollen  shawls  .       283,139 

Cloths.  .         .         .  177,811 

Prints  .  .  .  688,767 
Ready  made  clothing  .  232,813 
Empty  bags  .  .  .  2.53,967 
Straw  hats  .         .       173,419 

Cottons  .        .         .  419,276 

Paraguay   tea     .         .       535,177 


'•'If  our  merchants. 


Imports  from 
1865.  the  U.S. 

41,781  464 


614,564 
1,312,026 
156,802 
304,053 
132,865 
388,540 
1,021,397 
395,124 
339,474 
107,826 
182,941 
599,693 
161,159 
236,364 
143,640 
394,329 
343,459 


1,652 

184,904 

240 

236 

None. 


,  said  the  able  newspaper,  already 
referred  to,  commenting  on  these  extraordinary  figures, 
"  let  this  growing  trade  of  Chili  rest  in  English  hands, 
they  will  show  themselves  less  wise  and  less  enterprising 
than  they  are  reputed  to  be.  There  is  no  reason,  with 
our  ports  on  the  Pacific  side,  why  we  should  not  do  almost 
the  whole  of  the  carrying  trade  of  Chili  ;  and  certainly 
we  ought,  in  the  next  two  or  three  years,  to  quadruple  our 
commerce  with  that  country,  which  is,  as  we  have  already 
shown,  one  of  the  most  thriving  in  South  America." 

It  is  a  very  singular  fact,  that  the  blockade  of  Chili, 
in  the  last  four  months  of  1865,  far  from  lessening  the 
exportation  of  the  products  of  the  country,  has  increased 
them  to  a  wonderful  extent,  as  shown  by  the  following  sta- 
tistics which  one  of  the  leading  papers  of  New  York  (the 
"Evening  Post,"  of  February  27)  has  lately  published, 
with  an  appropriate  commentary  upon  the  immense  quan- 
tity of  provisions  furnished  by  the  fertility  of  Chili  to  the 
markets  of  the  world: 


30 


Barley. 
Jerked  beef 
Beans 

Indian  corn 
Flour 
Wheat 


lS6i.— Kilos. 

15,462,293 
313,778 
735,219 
162,791 

24,164,638 
52,16,124 


1865.— Kilns. 

20,728  743 

484,213 

2,348,208 

2,371,242 

36,878,041 

13,763,316 


To  complete  this  review  of  the  commerce  of  Chili,  we 
have  only  to  add  that  the  mercantile  navy  comprised  sev- 
eral hundred  ships,  which,  immediately  after  the  war 
broke  out,  temporarily  changed  their  flag,  to  resume  in 
proper  time  their  nationality.  From  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  in  the  marine  department,  presented  to 
the  Chilian  Congress  August  4,  1858,  it  appears  that  the 
mercantile  navy  of  Chili,  which  in  1848  consisted  of  only 
105  vessels,  tonnage,  12,628,  numbers  at  present  269  ves- 
sels, tonnage  62,209;  showing  an  increase  in  ten  years  of 
164  vessels,  and  of  49,581  tons.  The  coast  trade  of  the 
Chilian  flag  exclusively  presents  the  progressive  increase 
shown  in  the  following  table: 

Years. 

1853, 
1854, 
1855, 

1856, 
1857, 
1858, 

In  the  province  of  Chiloe  1,958  small  vessels  were  (Au- 
gust 4,  1858)  employed  in  domestic  trafdc,  with  a  crew  of 
9,000  men. 

"'"'"'  in 


Vessels. 

Tonnage. 

109 
115 

20,247 
21,116 

153 

29,694 

166 
180 
196 

35,077 
37,985 
40,402 

The  following  table  shows 

the  navi 

gation  ( 

of  Chili 

)0/  : 

No.  of 

No.  of 

Vessels 

Vessels 

Ports.                              entered. 

Tonnage. 

sailed. 

Tonnage. 

Caldera,     -         -          — 

— 

— 

— 

Huasco,           -               — 

— 

— 

— 

Coquimbo,          -         292 

86,732 

309 

94,665 

Herradura,      -             204 

49,909 

198 

48,615 

Papudo,     -         -           — 

— 

— 

— 

Valparaiso,     -          1,117 

351,836 

1,093 

335,436 

Tuman  and  Llico,        — 

— 

— 

— 

31 


No.  of 

No.  of 

Vessels 

Vessels 

Ports. 

entered. 

Tonnage. 

sailed. 

Tonnage. 

Constituclon, 

184 

31,151 

188 

31,337 

Curanipe, 

13 

1,092 

13 

1,052 

Talcahuano, 

273 

83,196 

287 

83,974 

Tome, 

180 

44,366 

180 

44,376 

Penco, 

33 

7,310 

33 

7,310 

Lirquen, 

13 

2,547 

13 

2,547 

Coronel,    - 

114 

30,511 

102 

40,718 

Lota, 

133 

39,594 

135 

40,375 

Corral, 

96 

27,101 

94 

26,244 

Ancud, 

137 

41,986 
797,341 

140 

42,873 

2,789 

2,785 

799,542 

To    which    should 

be  added  for  oth- 

er ports,  say,  - 

125 

40,000 

120 

37,000 

Total 


2,914    837,341     2,905    836,542 


Finally,  the  number  of  vessels  which  entered  and  sailed 
from  the  ports  of  Chili  in  1864,  and  their  tonnage,  is 
shown  by  the  following  figures  : 

Entered,  2830     vessels,  with     1,011,702     tons. 

Sailed,  2811         "  "  994,184       " 


Total,  5641 


2,005,886 


PROaRESS   OF    STEAM   NAVIQATION. 

In  the  good  old  times  of  the  Spaniards,  when  Chili  was 
to  America,  more  or  less,  what  Spain  is  now  to  Europe, 
there  was  only  a  yearly  direct  communication  with  the 
mother  country,  when  el  cajon  del  Rey^  {the  King's  box) 
was  received  with  due  ceremony,  containing  a  few  hun- 
dreds of  letters  from  merchants  or  relatives  abroad.  To- 
day a  single  Company  on  the  coast  of  Chili  possesses  no 
less  than  eighteen  splendid  steamers,  with  an  aggregate 
tonnage  of  quite  as  many  thousands.  We  do  not  believe, 
indeed,  that  there  is  in  Europe  or  the  United  States  a 
company  possessing  so  large  a  number  of  ships,  except. 


32 

perhaps,  that  of  the  Messageries  Iinperiahs  in  the  Medi- 
terranean. 

The  first  attempt  to  introduce  steam  navigation  in  Chili 
was  made,  in  1835,  by  the  well-known  and  enterprising 
Mr.  Wheelwright,  an  American  citizen  from  Newburyport, 
K.  I.  Mr.  Wheelwright  was  to  establish  a  line  of  two 
small  steamers,  of  three  hundred  tons  each,  under  certain- 
conditions.  But  it  was  not  until  1840  that  he  was  able 
to  carry  out  his  enterprise,  establishing  a  northerly  com- 
munication between  Valparaiso  and  Panama  with  two 
little  steamers  built  in  England,  the  Chili  and  the  Peru 
That  was  the  humble  beginning  of  the  now  prosperous 
and  gigantic  Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Company. 

It  is  a  rather  singular  fact  that  this  enterprise,  having 
originated  in  an  American  merchant,  has  been  developed 
entirely  through  English  capital  and  English  skill,  to  the 
continued  exclusion  of  American  interest,  which  says  but 
little  in  favor  of  the  energy  and  clearsightedness  of  the 
great  Commodores  of  the  United  States. 

The  first  voyage  of  the  English  steamers  between  Val- 
paraiso and  Panama  took  place,  to  the  great  delight  of  the 
inhabitants  along  the  whole  Pacific  coast,  in  October,  1840. 
Eight  years  afterwards  (January,  1847),  four  steamers 
commen3ed  to  run  between  those  two  and  the  intermediate 
ports,  and  later,  (in  May,  I860,)  a  weekly  communication 
was  established  between  Valparaiso  and  Callao,  touching  at 
the  following  ports: — Tongoy,  Coquimbo,  Huasco,  Carri- 
zal,  Caldera,  Ohaharal  and  Taltal,  in  Chili  ;  Cobija  and 
Tocopilla  in  Bolivia  ;  Yquique,  Mejillones,  Pisagua,  Ari- 
ca,  Ylo,  Islay,  Quilca,  Cliala,  Pisco  and  the  Chincha 
Islands  in  Peru. 

At  the  same  time  the  flourishing  Company  succeeded  in 
establishing  a  new  line  of  steamers  from  Valparaiso,  south- 
ward, as  far  as  Valdivia  (1853),  and  afterwards  to  Puerto 
Montt  (1858),  receiving  a  subsidy  of  $40,000  yearly 
from  the  Chilian  Grovernment,  as  a  liberal  or  rather  prod- 
igal encouragement  for  that  remunerative  service. 

The  Company  now  receives  a  heavy  subsidy  from  th 
English  Government;  the  post-office  of  Chili  pays  a  fixed 
sum  of  $16,800  yearly  for  the  carrying  of  the  mails,  with- 
out taking  into  consideration  a  fixed  postage  paid  to  the 
Company  on  the  letters;  and  besides  all  these  advantages,  it 
possesses  another  and  greater,  viz. :  a  monopoly — its  man- 


33 

agers  having  had  the  foresight  and  wisdom  to  buy  off  all 
rival  enterprises,  particularly  those  attempted  on  a  small 
scale  between  the  United  States  and  Chili. 

The  Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Company  deserves  much 
credit  for  the  skill,  energy  and  liberality  with  which  it 
has  been  kept  up  and  improved.  But  the  commerce  of 
Chile  and  Peru  has  always  looked  with  anxiety  for  the 
benefits  of  competition,  principally  from  the  American 
side,  and  there  has  always  existed  an  unheeded  but  just 
complaint,  on  the  part  of  South  American  travelers, 
that  no  attention  is  paid  to  their  peculiar  habits  and  tastes, 
everything  on  board  the  steamers — the  iood,  hours  for  meals, 
night  regulations,  and  above  all,  the  independent  brusque- 
ness  of  the  petty  officers — being  those  of  the  most  stringent 
old  English  style,  so  that  it  often  happens  that  there  are 
fifty  or  a  hundred  Chilian  or  Peruvian  passengers  who  are 
obliged  to  fare  entirely  in  the  English  fashion,  so  little 
acceptable  to  meridional  palates,  while  there  are  few  or 
perhaps  no  English  on  board. 

In  this  respect  there  is,  undoubtedly,  great  need  of  re- 
form and  improvement,  but  in  every  other,  the  English 
Company,  for  the  capacity  and  quality  of  its  vessels,  the 
regularity  and  punctuality  of  the  service,  the  professional 
merits  of  the  commanders  and  officers,  leaves  nothing  to 
be  desired. 

At  present  the  Company  possesses  eighteen  ships,  and. 
every  year  three  or  four  new  ones  are  launched  in  Eng- 
land and  added  to  the  line.  The  beautiful  steamers  San- 
tiago, Limena,  and  Pacific,  are  of  2,000  tons  each,  and 
were  built  in  Liverpool  in  1865.  Of  the  balance,  there  are 
seven  with  a  tonnage  of  from  1,000  to  1,800  tons,  and 
eight  with  a  varied  tonnage  of  from  200  to  1,000  tons. 
The  aggregate  capacity  of  the  fleet  is  17,956  tons. 

The  number  of  passengers  transported  by  this  line  in 
1861,  between  Valparaiso  and  Panama,  was,  7,263,  of 
which  1.997  were  cabin  passengers,  and  5,266  steerage. 

But  this  number,  during  the  subsequent  years,  has  beea 
more  than  doubled,  and  of  course  the  transportation  of 
troops,  which  forms  a  heavy  item  of  revenue,  particularly 
in  Peru,  is  nut  included  in  the  above  number.  In  1860, 
the  sum  of  $18,000  was  paid  by  President  Castillo  for  the 
transportation  of  a  single  battalion  of  infantry  from  Griiay- 
aquil  to   Callao.     Lately,  in  1865,  a  little  steamer,  be- 


34 

longing  to  the  Company,  was  chartered  on  account  of  the 
Chilian  Grovernment,  to  carry  the  news  of  the  sailing  of 
the  Spanish  fleet  from  Callao  to  Chili,  for  $7,000.  The 
Paita,  the  swiftest  of  the  steamers  on  the  line,  was  char- 
tered from  Callao  to  Paita,  in  November  last,  for  the 
sum  of  $15,000,  to  carry  important  despatches,  and 
performed  that  service  in  thirty  hours,  at  an  expense,  per- 
haps, of  two  or  three  thousand  dollars.  Another  steamer, 
the  Quito,  now  the  Ohalaco,  which  cost  the  company  from 
$250,000  to  $300,000,  was  sold,  after  a  good  deal  of  ser- 
vice to  the  Peruvian  Government  for  $600,000. 

Another  source  of  profit  to  the  Company  is  the  service 
of  the  mails. 

The  number  of  letters  transported  during  the  last  five 
years  (1859,  1863)  shows,  in  a  manner  not  at  all  flatter- 
ing to  the  United  States,  how  slight  her  intercourse  with 
Chile  has   been  as  compared  with  that  of  other  countries. 


Vears. 

Europe. 

U..  States. 

1859 

28,961  letters 

1,981 

1860 

31,429      " 

2,136 

1861 

34,121      " 

2,615 

1862 

39,948      " 

2,780 

1863 

36,903     " 

2,769 

About  the  profits  on  freight,  which  yields  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  the  revenue  of  the  Company,  there  can  be 
no  perfect  knowledge;  but  the  profits  must  be  enormous, 
particularly  if  we  consider  the  large  dividends  paid  to  the 
shareholders,  which,  with  a  reticence  worthy  of  the  American 
system  of  keeping  the  public  ignorant  of  all  transactions 
for  which  the  public  nevertheless  have  to  pay,  are  religiously 
kept  secret. 

Nevertheless,  some  idea  of  this  extraordinary  business 
may  be  had  from  the  following  facts  : 

In  1851,  a  few  merchants  of  Valparaiso  formed  a  Com- 
pany under  the  name  of  La  Sociedad  Anonima  del  Faquete 
del  Maide,  with  a  capital  of  $74,000,  for  the  purpose  of 
running  a  little  steamer  between  some  of  the  intermediate 
ports  of  Chili  south  of  Valparaiso. 

The  steamer  Faquete  del  Maule  made  her  first  trip 
on  the  line  about  the  middle  of  1861,  and  eighteen  months 
aiterwards  (December,  1862),  the  shareholders  divided  a 


35 

profit  of  $11,000,  after  putting  aside  a  reserve  fund  of 
$10,000.  Six  months  afterwards  (Jan.  30,  1863),  a  new 
dividend  of  $17,760  was  paid,  thus  making,  in  little  more 
than  two  years,  a  net  profit  of  $38,760,  or  32.38  per  cent; 
of  the  capital. 

Now,  comparing  the  capital,  the  extent  of  the  line,  the 
priviliges,  the  subvention,  and,  above  all,  the  monopoly  of 
the  English  company,  some  faint  idea  may  be  arrived 
at  of  the  splendid  inducements  offered  by  the  South  Pa- 
cific trade  to  the  enterprizing  capitalists  of  the  United 
States,  engaged  in  supporting  rival  lines  on  the  north  side 
of  that  ocean. 

The  Governments  of  Chili  and  Peru  have  always  offer- 
ed the  most  liberal  terms  to  new  companies  for  the  establish- 
ing steam  navigation  in  the  Pacific.  In  1853,  Mr.  Henry 
Griffin  obtained  the  promise  of  a  subvention  of  $60,000, 
durino;  the  terra  of  ten  years,  for  a  line  of  steamers  which 
was  to  make  eight  voyages  annually  between  Valparaiso 
and  Liverpool  round  Cape  Horn,  or  rather  through  the  staits 
of  Magellans. 

Lately  (1865),  the  Chilian  Congress  sanctioned  a  law  to 
appropriate  $100,000  yearly  to  encourage  another  enter- 
prize  of  the  same  kind,  gotten  up  by  French  and  English 
capitalists.  But  the  war  with  Spain  has  put  a  temporary 
check  to  this  important  enterprise  which  will  give  new  life 
to  the  prosperous  English  (not  American)  steam  naviga- 
tion companies  in  the  Pacific. 

The  following  table  gives  the  tariff  of  passage  by  the 
Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Company,  together  with  the 
maritime  distances  between  the  several  ports  visited  by  its 
steamers.  The  average  of  the  tariff  per  mile  is  7  cents  for 
passengers,  $1.42  per  ton  for  freight  between  Panama  and 
Valparaiso,  according  to  the  following  table : 

PACIFIC   STEAM    NAVIGATION   COMPANY'S    PASSAGE   TARIFF. 


Ports  south  of 

Valparaiso. 

Distances  in 

Passage, 

om  Valparaiso  to 

maritime  miles. 

1st  Class. 

Tome,      .     .     . 

240 

$25 

Talcahuano 

248 

25 

Lota  y  Coronel, 

238 

30 

Corral,     .     .     . 

465 

30 

Ancud,    .     .     . 

603 

55 

Puerto-Montt, 

663 

60 

36 


PACIFIC   STEAM    NAVIGATION    COMPANY'S    PASSAGE   TARIFF. 


Ports  north  of 

Valfianiso. 

Distances  in 

Passage. 

Freight 

Prom  Valparaiso  to 

maiitime  miles. 

1st  Class. 

2d  Class. 

steerage. 

per  ton 

Tongoy,     . 

175 

$15 

$12 

$4 

$6 

Coquimbo, 

195 

15 

12 

4 

6 

Haasco,     . 

293 

18 

15 

5 

6 

Carrizal  Bajo, 

316 

20 

17 

6 

8 

Caldera,    . 

388 

20 

17 

6 

6 

Chanaral   . 

433 

25 

22 

8 

8 

Taltal,       . 

498 

25 

22 

8 

Cobija, 

676 

55 

50 

15 

10 

Tocopilla, 

705 

59 

54 

17 

12 

Iquique,    . 

820 

70 

65 

18 

10 

Pisagua,    . 

856 

70 

65 

20  , 

12 

Arica,   .     . 

926 

70 

65 

20 

10 

Ilo,  .     .     . 

.       1007 

80 

75 

24 

12 

Islay,     .     . 

.       1067 

80 

75 

24 

10 

Chala, 

1209 

85 

80 

25 

12   ' 

Pisco,    ,     . 

.       1400 

90 

85 

26 

12 

Chinchas, 

1410 

90 

85 

26 

12 

Callao, 

.       1516 

95 

90 

28 

10 

Payta,     ^ . 

2026 

125 

120 

36 

12 

Guayaquil,    , 

2236 

135 

126 

38 

12 

Panama     . 

.       3071 

230 

220 

60 

18 

AGRICULTUKE. 


Tlie  agriculture  of  Chili  forms  the  greater  part  of  the 
wealth  of  the  nation;  and  it  not  only  maintains  a  robust 
people,  who  live  cheaply  and  comfortably,  but,  owing  to 
the  low  prices  of  food,  affords  facilities  for  working,  at  a 
small  expense,  mines  that  otherwise  would  not  be  produc- 
tive. The  immense  exportation  of  mineral  products 
depends  chiefly  upon  the  agricultural  resources  of 
the  country,  and  at  the  same  time  yields  from  the 
exportation  of  its  principal  articles,  viz.,  flour  and  wheat, 
an  amount  of  several  millions. 

The  husbandry  of  the  country  was  not,  up  to  within 
tke  last  ten  years,  of  the  highest  character.     The  soil  of 


37 

the  arable  portions  is  very  fertile,  and  will  yield,  even  of 
the  cereals,  from  thirty  to  sixty  fold;  but,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  tftlerably  skilful  system  of  irrigation,  the  farmers 
and  planters  were  ignorant  of  improved  methods  of  agri- 
culture. Their  ploughs  were  the  rudest  and  most  uncouth 
instruments  imaginable,  only  scratching  the  earth  to  the 
depth  of  two  or  three  inches;  of  subsoiling,  the  applicf^tion 
of  manures,  underdraining,  and  the  rotation  of  crops, 
they  knew  nothing;  and  the  stubborn  adherence  of  the 
peons,  like  that  of  ignorant  laborers  everywhere,  to  old 
methods,  handed  down  from  one  generation  to  another,  was 
a  most  effectual  barrier  to  any  considerable  improvement. 
Still,  with  all  these  drawbacks,  so  fertile  is  the  soil,  and  so 
much  is  it  enriched  by  the  detritus  brought  down  by  the 
mountain  streams,  that  agriculture  is  a  very  profitable 
pursuit. 

Lately,  however,  great  improvements  have  been  intro- 
duced, particularly  by  wealthy  farmers  who  have  visited 
Europe,  and  enterprising  young  men  who  have  devoted 
themselves  to  the  study  of  practical  as  well  as  scientific 
agriculture,  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

As  far  back  as  1842,  a  normal  agricultural  college  was 
established  by  the  Government  at  Yungay,  a  suburb  of  San- 
tiago, and  has  been  carried  on  up  to  the  present  day,  at 
an  expense  of  nearly  $130,000.  Improved  cattle,  splen- 
did breeds  of  horses,  all  kinds  of  foreign  trees, 
shrubbery  and  grasses,  agricultural  implements  of  every 
description,  and  machinery,  have  been  obtained  by  that 
useful  institution,  and  have  afterwards  found  their  way  to 
the  large  farms,  the  chacras,  and  the  quintas. 

Several  manufacturers  of  agricultural  implements,  both 
in  England  and  the  United  States,  have  sent  their  agents 
to  Chili  with  successful  results.  The  agent  of  the  well- 
known  Pitt's  thrashing-machine  succeeded  in  setting  up 
thirty  or  forty  steam  engines  in  less  than  six  months,  in 
the  latter  part  of  1858  ;  and  there  is  now  in  Valparaiso  an 
American  house  (Rose,  Junes  &  Co.)  which  makes  a  busi- 
ness of  importing  agricultural  implements  to  the  amount 
of  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  yearly. 

The  farms  are  usually  very  large,  frequently  comprising 
several  thousand  acres,  and  herds  of  cattle,  five,  ten  or  twenty 
thousand  in  number,  are  pastured  on  the  elevated  plains 
and  tended  by  the   rough  huasos,  till  the  period  for  their 


S8347 


38 

slaughter  arrives.  The  hacendados,  or  planters,  usually 
reside  in  the  cities,  leaving  their  plantations  under  the  care 
of  mayordomos  or  overseers,  and  only  visit  "them  occa- 
sionally. The  largest  plantations  in  the  country  are  those 
of  La  Compaiiia  and  Las  Canteras,  the  latter  with  an 
area  of  over  200,000  acres.  Smaller  estates  are  called 
chacras  and  also  haciendas^  and  the  small  farms  are  called 
quinta.  The  daily  wages  of  laborers  vary  from  twenty-five 
cents  to  thirty-seven  cents,  and  in  harvest  time  amount  to 
fifty  cents.  -In  the  northern  part  of  the  country,  the  people 
are  far  more  industrious  than  in  the  southern  region,  where 
few  laborers  are  to  be  found  above  the  age  of  twenty-two. 
As  soon  as  the  young  men  marry  in  the  southern  provinces 
they  yearn  for  independence,  and  live  upon  a  little  patch  of 
land,  which  is  generally  presented  to  them  by  the  planters. 
This  class  of  laborers  are  attached  to  the  plantation,  and 
are  called  inquilinos.  In  return  for  this  the  land  and 
accommodation  granted  to  them,  they  are  bound  to  assist 
the  planter  during  the  rodeos  (cattle  fair)  and  the  trillas 
(threshing  season). 

A  large  part  of  the  soil  of  ChiU  is  uncultivated  ; 
but,  when  capable  of  tillage,  is  so  fertile,  and  yields 
crops  so  abundant,  that  large  quantities  of  cereals  and 
meats  are  exported,  as  already  seen,  to  Australia,  Peru, 
England,  and  other  countries.  The  two  provinces  of 
Atacama  and  Coquimbo,  do  not  grow  a  sufficiency 
of  grain  or  cattle  for  home  consumption  ;  but  the 
other  thirteen  not  only  supply  themselves  and  these, 
but  exported  in  1850  $2,693,545  worth  of  cereals,  and 
in  1857  $2,242,354.  The  wheat  crop  of  1850  was 
estimated  at  11,250,000  bushels;  the  number  of  horned 
cattle  at  1,125,000,  and  281,250  were  slaughtered  that 
year.  CJiarqui,  or  beef  dried  in  the  sun,  forms  a  consider- 
able article  of  export,  as  well  as  of_home  consumption. — 
Santiago,  Valparaiso,  Concepcion,  Nuble,  and  Chiloe  are 
the  provinces  which  export  the  largest  quantity  of  agri- 
cultural products.  The  principal  grains  grown  are  wheat, 
barley,  oats,  and  maize;  rye  does  well,  but  is  not  grown, 
because  there  is  -no  demand  for  it.  Beans  are  a  very  large 
and  important  crop,  and  peas  are  extensively  cultivated. 
In  the  southern  provinces,  potatoes  of  excellent  quality 
are  raised.  Nuble,  Concepcion,  Valdivia,  and  Chiloe  pro- 
duce large  quantities  of  timber  and  lumber. 


39 

According  to  the  last  agricultural  statistics  of  the  coun- 
try, the  quantity  oi  fanegas  of  corn  and  vegetables  pro- 
duced (every  fanega  being  equivalent  to  three  bushels), 
was  in  1862,  as  follows  : — 

Fanegas. 

•Wheat,  .        .        .        .          3,161,722 

Oats, 555,991 

Maize, 212,989 

Beans, 236,607 

Lentils, 3,276 

Peas, 56,524 

Potatoes,     .  ,         .         .           1,150,122 

The  quantity  of  liquors  and  wines  produced  by 
the  famous  vines  of  the  several  provinces  in  1861,  is 
estimated  in  the  following  figures  by  arrohas,  a  liquid 
measure  equivalent  to  more  or  less  than  four  quarts  of  the 
English  system: 

^  Arrdbas. 

Chiloe,       -----         5,632 
Llanquihue,  -         _         -  26,633 

Valdivia,  -----      44,827 
Arauco,         -         _         -         -  89,152 

Concepcion,        .         -         -         -     301,926 
Nuble,  -         .         -         .  133,306 

Maule, 163.858 

Talca,  -         -        -         -  104,996 

Colchagua,  -         -         -         _     194,689 

Valparaiso,   -         -         -         -  64,132 

Santiago,  -        .         .         .     292,309 

Aconcagua,  -         -         -         -  162,586 

Coquimbo,  ...         -       50,422 

Atacama,      -        -        -        -  12,245 


Total,  .        -        -        -        1,656,703 

The  great  diversity  of  climate,  from  the  sunny  and  se- 
rene tropical  valleys  of  the  north  to  the  moist  hills  of  Con- 
cepcion, produces  such  a  variety  of  grapes  that  all  the 
famous  wines  of  Europe  can  be  easily  manufactured,  from 
the  lacrima  christy,  which  is  made  from  the  vineyards  of 
Mount  Etna  in  Sicily,  to  the  light  claret  wines  of  Bor- 
deaux, or  the  stronger  red  wine  of  Portugal.     During  the 


40 

last  ten  years  the  manufacture  of  home  wines  has  been  in- 
troduced, and  they  are  drunk  by  the  inhabitants  in 
preference  even  to  the  legitimate  wines  exported  from  the 
south  of  France.  The  laborers  themselves  will  soon 
abandon  the  old,  tasteless  and  unwholesome  chicha  for  the 
common  wine,  which  is  being  manufactured  in  •  large 
quantities  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Santiago,  and  at  a  very 
low  price. 

MINES. 

After  agriculture,  the  great  sources  of  the  wealth  of 
Chili,  are  its  famous  mines  of  gold,  silver  and  copper. 
But  having  taken  sufficient  notice  of  their  products  in  the 
second  part  of  this  pamphlet,  we  have  now  only  to  point  out 
a  few  figures  showing  the  locations  and  extensions  of  the 
principal  mines. 

In  1862,  the  principal  mines  worked  in  the  several 
provinces  were  the  following: 

Provinces.  Gold.  Silmr.  Copper. 

Atacama, 247  994 

Coquimbo,      ....  18  34  338 

Aconcagua, 8  9  228 

Concepcion,    ....  12 

Santiago, 12  9  67 

Valparaiso,    ....  3  3  42 

Colchagua,-     ....  7  3  21 

Talca,        5  ... 


55  305        1,710 

The  mines  of  the  Cordilleras  of  the  coast  have  proved 
productive,  in  the  province  of  Santiago,  of  silver  and 
gold.  The  latter  metal  is  worked  in  veins  associated  with 
the  sulnhurets  of  lead,  zinc,  copper,  and  iron,  four  leagues 
from  Rancagua,  and  is  also  collected  in  the  deposits  of  the 
streams.  The  inaccessibility  of  tha  mining  districts,  and 
the  presence  of  hostile  Indians,  check  the  working  of  the 
gold  mines;  so  that  the  annual  production  of  the  whole 
country  is  not  rajied  at  more  than  $500,000.  The  silver 
mines,  though  once  extensively  worked,  are  now  for  the 
most  part  abandoned  for  the  richer  mines  of  Copiapo. 
This  province  likewise  affords  some  cobalt  and  nickel, 
veins  of  the  arsenical  ores  having  been  worked  for  several 
years  near  the  mountain  called  Cerro  del  Volcan,  and  their 


41 

products  shipped  to  England,  Copper  mines  are  found 
along  the  course  of  the  granitic  and  metaraorphic  rocks  of 
the  coast  range  and  western  spurs  of  the  Andes  from  San- 
tiago to  the  northern  extremity  of  the  country.  This  belt 
indeed  abounds  in  metallic  riches  throughout  its  extent, 
even  to  Bolivia  and  Perii;  but  though  lead,  ii-on,  bismuth, 
antimony,  arsenic,  zinc,  and  manganese  are  found,  they 
are  esteemed  of  no  value,  and  the  only  mines  worked  are 
of  the  other  metals  named,  and  also  to  some  extent  of  cin- 
nabar. The  importance  of  this  ore  is,  however,  greatly 
reduced  by  the  cheap  production  of  mercury  in  California. 

Lately,  discoveries  of  immense  quantities  of  copper  have 
been  found  in  that  part  of  the  desert  of  Atacama  which  be- 
longs to  Chili.  Several  smelting  establishments  have  been 
built  by  foreign  mercantile  houses,  and  principally  by  a  very 
enterprising  and  respectable  Chilian,  Don  Jose  Antonio  Mo- 
reno, who  died  lately  in  Santiago,  leaving  an  immenes 
fortune,  of  which  he  made  a  very  patriotic  and  liberal  use. 

The  desert  of  Atacama,  by  its  guano  fields  near  Meji- 
llones  and  elsewhere,  and  its  inexhaustible  veins  of  metals, 
will  prove  in  future  a  source  of  revenue  to  Chile  as  abundant 
as  that  of  her  immense  southern  fields  of  bituminous  coals. 

COAL  AND  COAL  FIELDS. 

The  coal  beds  of  the  province  of  Concepcion,  were 
known  as  early  as  the  year  1825.  In  1834  they  were 
examined  by  Mr.  Wheelwrightj  Superintendent  of  the 
South  Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Company.  In  1841  the 
formation  was  traced  between  Talcahuano  and  Valparaiso, 
and  mines  were  soon  after  opened  at  the  former  locality. 
Coal  has  also  been  found  in  abundance  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Laraqueto,  and  the  beds  are  visible  in  the  cliffs  from 
vessels  sailing  along  the  coast.  The  most  productive  mines 
are  in  the  districts  of  Coronel  and  Lota,  the  latter  thirty 
miles  south  of  the  Biobio,  in  the  province  of  Concepcion. 
About  three  thousand  miners  are  employed,  and  the 
average  annual  produce  is  estimated  at  about  seven 
hundred  thousand  tons,  worth  about  seven  dollars 
per  ton.  The  coal  beds  are  contained  in  strata  supposed 
to  be  of  the  tertia,ry  formation  ;  and  though  the  coal 
of  this  age  is  never  so  good  as  that  of  the  true  coal 
measures,  that  of  Chili  is  found  to  answer  for  steam  and 
domestic  purposes.     Prof.  W.  E.  Johnson  examined  some 


42 

specimens  said  to  be  from  the  province  of  Arauco,  whicli 
he  describes  in  vol  i.  of  the  "  Proceedings"  of  the  Acade- 
my of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia,  as  of  dull  or 
pitchy  black  color,  and  nearly  related  in  external  appear- 
ance, to  many  of  the  richest  bituminous  coals  of  America 
and  Europe.  By  analysis  they  afforded  67.62  per  cent,  of 
carbon,  showing  a  decided  superiority  over  the  ordinary 
brown  coal  of  the  tertiary.  Reports  of  examinations  of 
other  coals  of  the  region  represent,  however,  a  percentage 
of  carbon  not  exceeding  40,  and  the  presence  of  much 
iron  pyrites.  Coal  is  imported  from  England  in  large 
quantities  for  the  use  of  steamers,  and  for  smelting  ores. 
The  largest  coal  works,  managed  by  the  most  perfect  Eng- 
lish system,  and  established  at  an  expense  of  nearly  a  million 
of  dollars,  belong  to  Mr.  Luis  Cousiiio,  who  inherited  them  a 
few  years  ago  from  his  worthy  father,  Don  Matias  Cou- 
sino,  a  man  who  devoted  his  life  and  capital  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  his  country,  and  died  in  the  prime  of  life. 
Mr.  Cousino,  as  well  as  Mr.  Moreno  and  Mr.  Urmeneta, 
(the  wealthy  proprietor  of  the  copper  mines  of  Tamaya), 
deserve  the  gratitude  of  their  countrymen  for  their  gener- 
ous efforts  to  improve  and  develop  the  industry  of  the 
country. 

RAILWAYS  AND  ROADS. 

Chili  is,  perhaps,  the  South  American  country  which 
presents  the  greatest  difficulties  for  the  making  of 
good  freighting  roads  and  railways,  and  at  the  same  time 
possesses  the  most  of  both.  In  1862  there  were  not  less 
than  five  railroads,  comprising  a  distance  of  five  hundred 
and  forty-three  kilometres,  and  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
broad  roads,  comprising  fourteen  thousand  and  thirty-one 
kilometres. 

Lately,  not  less  than  five  hundred  miles  of  railways 
have  been  completed,  and  in  order  to  connect  the  whole 
extent  of  the  country,  through  the  central  valleys  from 
Copiapo,  southward  to  Concepcion,  no  less  than  one  thou- 
sand miles  are  to  be  constructed,  and  already  a  part  of  this 
in  process  of  construction,  under  scientific  study  and  survey. 

Having  stated,  in  the  latter  part  of  this  work,  the  loca- 
tion of  the  principal  railroads,  for  which  we  refer  the 
reader  to  the  accompanying  Map,  we  now  proceed  to  give 
some  interesting  facts  about  the  length,  cost,  progress  and 
results  of  those  enterprises. 


43 

The  following  table  for  1863,  shows  the  extent,  in  kilo- 
metres, of  the  railways  in  the  country  (1st  column),  the 
absolute  cost  in  dollars  of  each  (2d  column),  and  the 
relative  cost  per  kilometre  (3d  column) : 

Cost  per 
Kilo.  Cost.  Kilo. 

From  Valparaiso  to  Santiago,          -  183.98  10,834,798  59,020 

From  Santiago  to  San  Fernando,  -     133.57  5,526,000  41,370 

From  Cc^ldera  to  Pabellon        -      -  119.05  2.9GU,000  24,860 

From  Pabellon  to  Cbaiiarcillo,     -  41.75  1,000.000  23,952 

From  Coquimbo  to  las  Cardas,  -       64.61  1,040,000  16,000 


542.96       21,360,798      39,341 

The  number  of  passengers  who   traveled  on  the  several 

lines   in  1863,    was  754,760,    according   to    the  annexed 

figures:  ^ 

First  class  passengers,  .         .         .     124,436 

Second  "         "  ...  436,848 

Third    "         "  ....       193,476      ^ 

754,760 

The  produce  of  the  several  lines  was  $1,726,434,  of 
which  $615,076  were  paid  by  passengers,  and  $1,111,358 
for  freight. 

The  whole  extent  of  the  lines  of  communication  by  land 
(taking  into  consideration  only  the  cartable  roads)  and  by 
rivers,  amounted,  in  1863,  to  16,039  kilometres  and  were 
distributed  in  the  several  provinces,  as  shown  in  the  fol- 
lowing table: 

Provinces.  Roads.            Rivers.  Railways. 

Chiloe    .        '.         .  37  

Llanquihue  .         .               76          291             

Valdivia  .         .                 119           472             ■ 

Arauco  .         .         .         2,190           452 

Concepcion  .         .             1,434           171             

Nuble  ...           388          ,152 

Maule      .  .         .                 .550            99             * 

Talca          ...  777            94            

Colchagua  .         .         .        1,636 51.50 

Santiago,  .         .             2,680  145.88 

Valparaiso  ...            312 92.22 

Aconcagua  .         .                   161 27.98 

Coquimbo  .          .             466 64.61 

Atacama  .         .                 3,242 160.80 

Total     .        .  14,031       1,466  542.96 


44  / 

MANUFACTURES. 

Chili  has  given  but  little  attention  to  manufactures. 
The  Government  has,  within  a  few  years,  endeavored  to 
introduce  them  by  offering  exclusive  privileges  to  manu- 
facturers for  a  term  of  years,  but  with  little  success. 
Apart  from  the  manufacture  of  common  cloth,  which, 
though  woven  in  the  rudest  looms,  possesses  some  qualities 
which  the  French  and  Eno;lish  goods  have  never  been  able 
to  attain,  and  the  coarser  kinds  of  work  in  gold,  silver, 
copper  and  iron,  the  very  imperfect  tanning  of  a  small 
quantity  of  leather,  and  the  simpler  processes  of  the  soap- 
boiler and  candle-maker,  the  production  of  lumber,  and 
the  preservation  of  dried  meats,  there  is  little  that  can  be 
called  manufacturing  in  the  country. 

Nevertheless,  there  were,  in  1863,  no  less  than  132 
steam  engines,  with  an  accumulated  force  of  9,970  horse 
power,  equivalent  to  a  force  of  69,790  man  power.  Of 
those  engines,  3  were  employed  in  saw-mills,  13  in  dis- 
tilling liquors,  2  in  blowing  furnaces,  6  in  flour  mills,  and 
14  in  coal  mines.  There  is  in  Santiago  a  large  manufac- 
tory of  cloths  in  the  French  plan,  and  another  of  cotton 
goods  in  Valparaiso. 

LATE  PROGRESS  OF  CHILI. 

t. 

Chili  has  ever  been  known  as  the  steadiest,  most  pros- 
perous and  best  governed  of  the  South  American  coun- 
tries. Although  the  revenue  is  not  large,  it  is  so  econom- 
ically and  faithfully  managed  that  all  the  branches  of  the 
public  service  are  kept  in  perfect  order.  Public  education, 
religious  worship,  the  army,  the  navy,  the  public  build- 
ings, the  roads,  the  preservation  of  harbors  and  light- 
houses, the  proper  working  of  the  mines,  the  protection 
afforded  to  manufactures,  agriculture,  and  to  public 
charities,  the  encouragement  offered  to  emigration,  the 
subsidies  paid  for  internal  or  foreign  steam  navigation, 
and  particularly  the  construction  of  telegraphic  lines 
throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  country,  and  of  mag- 
nificent and  costly  railways,  are  attended  to  and  paid 
for  freely  from  the  public  funds  or  credit  of  the  republic. 

Slavery  is  prohibited  by  law,  all  traffic  in  it  forbid- 
den, and  every  person  who  treads  the  soil  is  declared  free. 


45 

According  to  the  report  of  the  war  department,  presented 
to  Congress,  August  4, 1858,  the  standing  army  amounted 
to  2,193  men,  being  463  less  than  the  number  required  by 
law,  and  not  including  469  pensioners  and  48  military 
scholars.  The  officers  of  the  army  consist  of  4  generals  of 
division,  8  brigadier-generals,  6  colonels,  27  lieut.-colonels, 
48  majors,  100  captains,  18  adjutants,  64  lieutenants,  and 
74ensigns;  total,  349.  The  existing  police  force  amounted 
to  2,323  men,  requiring  for  their  support  an  annual  ex- 
pense of  ^461,449.  An  increase  of  771  men,  with  an  ex- 
pense of  $128,002  is  proposed.  The  civic  guard  or  militia 
consists  of  40,466  men,  viz. — 682  artillery,  24,331  infan- 
try, and  15,453  cavalry;  the  marine,  of  2  corvettes,  3 
brigan tines,  1  frigate,  and  1  war  steamer,  the  whole 
mounting  71  cannon. 

Lately,  the  differential  duties  on  goods  from  the  United 
States,  Great  Britain,  Brazil,  and  other  principal  commer- 
cial countries,  have  been  abolished.  A  new  tariff  was 
introduced  May  8,  1851,  and  amended  in  1865.  Under 
Montt's  administration,  a  civil  code  has  been  given  to 
Chili,  tribunals  of  commerce  established,  a  discount  and 
deposit  bank  founded  in  Valparaiso,  and  a  bank  to  advance 
money  on  real  estate,  opened  January  1,  1856. 

The  Mint  of  Santiago,  which  is  considered  the  finest 
public  building  in  South  America,  having  cost  upwards  of 
a  million  of  dollars,  emitted  in  gold  and  silver  coin,  from 
January  1,  1850,  to  January  1,  1858,  |1S,  103,877,  com- 
prising in  this  sum  the  recoinage  of  the  old  money  exclud- 
ed from  circulation.  In  August,  1858,  the  amount  emit- 
ted was  about  $61,000.  To  create  a  greater  abundance  of 
the  circulating  medium,  a  measure  had  been  recently  in- 
troduced into  the  legislature,  authorizing  the  executive  to 
purchase  gold  and  silver  bullion  at  the  prices  current  in 
the  market.  A  further  relief  in  the  money  market  was 
expected  from  another  measure  pending  before  Congress, 
authorizing  Government  to  warrant  the  bills  of  the  6Ve- 
dito  Hipotecario,  and  to  modify  this  institution.  Efforts 
to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  country  are  visible  in 
every  direction.  The  most  prominent  project  before  Con- 
gress was  the  establishment  of  towing  steamers'  in  the 
Straits  of  Magellan,  and  its  accomplishment  would  bring 
Chili  one  thousand  five  hundred  miles  nearer  to  Europe, 
America,  the  West  Indies,  Brazil,  and  to  almost  all  the  other 
} 


countries  of  tlie  globe.  Government  has  authorized  the 
foundation  of  an  anonymous  society  for  mutual  insurance 
against  fire,  under  the  name  of  the  Union  Chilena.  The 
establishment  of  a  Chilian  Lloyd  was  contemplated,  and  a 
chamber  of  commerce  was  created  at  Valparaiso.  Foreign 
skill  is  liberally  used.  Engineers  and  artillery  instructor8 
have  been  sent  from  France,  and  the  metallic  life  boats  of 
Francis  from  the  United  States.  The  merchants  of  Valpa- 
raiso proposed  to  devote  $250,000  per  annum  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  steamers  connecting  that  city  with  Montevideo 
and  Buenos  Ayres,  and  there  was  every  probability  of  the 
realization  of  this  project.  Agriculture  was  beginning  also 
to  receive  a  fuller  share  of  attention.  In  order  to  prevent 
the  scarcity  of  breadstufifs,  felt  at  the  end  of  1856,  owing  to 
an  excess  of  exportation  agricultural  statistical  offices  were 
to  be  organised  in  the  provinces,  noticing  beforehand  the 
approximate  consumption  of  grain  in  each  locality,  record- 
ing its  annual  production,  so  as  to  make  it  easy  to  take  in 
time  preventive  measures  to  remove  an  extreme  scarcity. 

The  construction  of  a  powerful  breakwater  to  protect  the 
harbour  of  Valparaiso  from  the  north  winds,  has  been  plan- 
ned by  order  of  the  Government,  and  it  is  believed  that  it 
will  be  carried  out  at  the  expense  of  ten  millions  of  dollars. 
The  construction  of  another  breakwater  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  river  Cachapoal  was  proposed.  New  regulations 
for  the  sale  of  Indian  lands  in  the  State  of  Arauco  had 
been  brought  forward,  with  the  view  of  civilizing  this 
State  and  of  putting  a  stop  to  the  collisions  with  the  In- 
dians on  the  frontier.  Thus  we  find  the  utmost  zeal  pre- 
vailing to  push  on  the  progress  of  the  country.  Nor  were 
charitable  works  neglected.  Beside  other  institutions  in 
various  parts  of  the  country,  there  were  in  Santiago  forty- 
seven  sisters  of  charity,  intrusted  with  the  management  of 
the  several  establishments  in  that  city,  independently  of  a 
central  home,  wherein  one  hundred  and  fifty  girls  are  edu- 
cated. Four  sisters  of  Providence  were  to  take  charge  of 
of  the  Concepcion  foundling  hospital.  In  the  Santiago 
lunatic  asylum,  ninety-six  patients  were  accommodated  in 
August,  1858. 

Among  the  newspapers,  we  noticed  the  Mercurio,  of 
Valparaiso,  the  oldest  of  South  American  papers;  the 
P atria,  of  the  same  city,  a  remarkably  well  edited  liberal 
paper  ;    the  Independiente,  'an  able  organ  of  the  clergy  in 


47 

Santiago  and  the  Ferrocarril,  undoubtedly  the  raost 
influential  and  widely-circulated  journal  in  South  America. 
Almost  every  town  has  one  or  two  papers,  and  the  print- 
ing of  hooks,  particularly  school  books,  is  quite  a  flour- 
ishing trade.  The  first  printing  office  was  established  in 
Chili  in  1812,  by  an  American  of  the  name  of  Hoevel. 

According  to  the  able  wiiter  of  the  article  "Chili," 
in  the  Neiv  American  CydopoecUa,  out  of  which  much 
of  this  description  has  been  extracted,  suffering  the  neces- 
sary corrections,  the  Chilians  "  are  more  enterprising  than 
the  inhabitants  of  most  of  the  South  American  States, 
ane  the  hacendados,  or  planters,  and  merchants  often  ac- 
cumulate large  amounts  of  property.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  those  destined  for  the  learned  professions,  they 
have  generally  but  little  education.  The  men  are  usually 
robust,  and  although  to  the  casual  observer  would  appear 
wanting  in  muscular  development,  Lieut.  Gilliss  affirms 
that  they  possess  much  more  strength  than  the  men  of  other 
nations.  He  was  more  than  once  surprised  by  seeing  men 
far  from  robust  in  appearance,  take  a  load  of  350  to  400 
lbs.,  and  trot  off  with  it  for  half  a  mile  without  complaint. 
The  women  have  fuller  and  rounder  figures,  and  are  gen- 
erally pretty.  Th^  seem  to  have  more  intelligence  and 
higher  aspirations  for  intellectual  culture  than  the  rougher 
sex.* 

EMIGEATION  AND  COLONIZATION. 

Having  given  in  this  hasty  sketch  of  the  republic  of 
Chili,  the  necessary  facts  and  figures  to  make  it  sufficient- 
ly   known    to    the    general    reader,   there  only   remains 

*  We  are  sorry  not  to  give  a  more  minute  account  than  that  already 
offered  in  the  historical  sketch  of  Chili,  of  the  famous  Araucanian  In- 
dians, of  whose  ascendancy  the  people  of  Chili  feel  so  justly  proud. — 
They  alone,  of  all  the  American  tribes  who  came  in  contact  with  the 
Spanish'or  Portuguese  invaders,  have  maintained  their  independence, 
notwithstanding  a  war  of  extermination  was  waged  against  them  for 
a  century  and  a  half,  in  which  all  the  appliances  of  civilization,  all  the 
bravery  of  the  ablest  commanders  and  the  most  experienced  and  vet- 
eran troops  were  brought  to  the  work  of  their  destruction.  Aptly 
named  the  Ishmaelites  of  the  new  world,  the  best  armies  of  Spain 
were  powerless  to  drive  them  from  their  mountain  fastnesses,  or  to 
subjugate  them  to  the  foreigners  they  hated.  In  this  protracted  con- 
test, which  ended  in  1724  with  the  acknowledgment  of  their  inde- 
pendence ;  the  bravery,  patriotism,  and  humanity  of  their  leaders  ;  the 
valor  and  devotion  of  the  troops ;  tUe  burning  love  of  country,  which 
led  even  the  weaker  sex  to  undergo  the  severest  hardships  to  rid 
themselves  of  their  foes,  all  constitute  a  heroic  page  of  history. 


48 

for  lis  the  pleasanter  task  of  addressing  a  few  passing  re- 
marks to  the  class  of  emigrants  for  whose  benefit  this  lit- 
tle work  has  been  expressly  prepared. 

Among  the  many  advantages  offered  by  Chili  to  emi- 
grants from  all  nations,  is  the  mildness  of  the  climate^ 
which  makes  its  valleys  some  of  the  most  delightful  spots 
in  the  world.  This  circumstance  explains  the  fact,  no- 
ticed by  Humboldt  and  other  travelers,  that  foreigners 
once  settled  in  that  country  even  for  a  few  months,  always 
show  a  great  reluctance  to  leave  it,  and  prefer  it  to  their 
own  native  lands. 

Another  powerful  inducement  to  emigration  has  gener- 
ally been  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  its  adaptation  to 
European  agriculture.  Emigrants  to  tropical  or  semi- 
tropical  countries  in  South  America 'have  found  the  climate 
a  great  drawback  to  their  settlement,  advancement,  and 
even  to  their  health.  But  in  Chili,  where  the  extraordinary 
extent  of  the  country  affords  every  variety  of  temperature, 
all  the  products,  usages,  and  labors  of  Europe  are  met  with, 
and  so  readily,  that  new  comers  may  consider  themselves 
at  home  after  a  few  weeks'  residence. 

There  is  yet  another  peculiar  advantage  for  foreigners 
in  the  physical  structure  of  the  country.  It  is  true  that  it 
is  the  farthest  land  of  South  America,  so  far  that  a  long  sea 
voyage  intervenes;  but,  as  a  compensation  rarely  met  with, 
the  emigrant,  a^soon  as  he  finds  himself  on  shore,  is  already 
in  the  m'idst  of  the  country,  and  needs  not  to  make  a  long 
land  voyage,  as  is  the  case  in  the  United  States,  Brazil,  and 
even  on  the  Rio  la  Plata.  There  are  no  inland  distances, 
and  consequently  the  inconvenience,  expense,  and  fatigue  of 
traveling,  as  well  as  the  expenses  of  settlement,  are  avoided. 

The  well-known  hospitality  of  the  people,  is  a  vir- 
tue to  which  there  is  not  a  single  traveler,  no  matter  how 
strongly  prejudiced  against  Chili  he  may  be  in  every  other  re- 
spect, who  has  not  paid  the  warmest  testimony.  Those 
dreadful  diseases  which  afflict  mankind,  the  yellow  fever, 
cholera,  and  other  pestilences,  are  entirely  unknown.  The 
general  order  of  the  public  administration,  the  frankness  of 
the  national  character,  and  particularly  the  freedom  of 
conscience  and  the  liberty  and  free  exercise  of  all  creeds, 
which  has  been  granted  lately  (July,  1865)  by  the  laws  of 
the  nation,  are  indeed  strong  inducements  to  emigrants 
as  the  richness  of  the  silver,  gold,  and  wonderful  copper 
mines  of  that  highly-gifted  country. 


49 

Protestant  churches  were  built  in  Valparaiso  as  far 
back  as  1835.  A  respectable  American  merchant,  G-.  G. 
Hobson,  Esq.,  chief,  at  that  time,  of  the  well-known  house 
of  Alsop  &  Co.,  was  the  originator  of  that  reform  which 
has  now  assumed  the  character  of  a  cherished  institution 
of  the  country.* 

But  all  has  not  yet  been  said  on  this  matter.  Notwith- 
standing so  many  natural  reasons  and  interests  to  provoke 
a  spontaneous  current  of  emigration  to  that  highly-favored 
country,  the  government  has  always  endeavored  to  increase 
the  settlement  of  emigrants  and  colonists  by  offering  the 
most  liberal  inducements. 

During  the  ignorant  and  hateful  dominion  of  Spain, 
foreigners  were  looked  upon  with  jealousy  by  the  public 
authorities,  and  the  laws  interfered  to  prevent  their  per- 
manent residence  and  even  their  visiting  the  country. 

*  A  correspondent  of  the  "  New  York  Tribune"  thus  describes,  under 
date  of  Jan.  15th,  1865,  the  inauguration  of  the  first  public  Protestant 
Church  in  Santiago : 

"  The  opening  exercises  were  held  the  first  Sabbath  of  the  new  year. 
The  Rev.  David  Trumbull,  from  Valparaiso,  preached  the  opening  dis- 
course from  Rev.  iii.  2 — '  Be  watchful  and  strengthen  the  things  which 
remain,  that  are  ready  to-day.'  It  was  an  able  discourse,  forcibly  pro- 
nounced. The  room  was  full :  among  others  were  seen  the  Hon.  T.  H. 
Nelson,  our  Minister,  and  the  Hon.  W.  T.  Thompson,  the  British  Minis- 
ter. This  was  a  very  gratifying  feature,  since  it  gave  to  the  enterprise 
the  influence  of  the  representatives  of  the  two  most  powerful  Protestant 
nations.  The  press  have  generally  made  a  kindly  notice  of  the  opening 
services,  and  not  the  least  sign  of  dissatisfaction  has  yet  been  shown. 

"  The  Protestants  have  come  forward  with  great  unanimity  in  their  sup- 
port.    The  first  week  all  the  pews  were  rented. 

"  The  Ferrocarril  of  Santiago  thus  noticed  this  event  : 
'Union  Chapel.  Last  Sabbath  took  place  the  inauguration  of  the 
first  Protestant  Chapel  in  Santiago  with  the  accustomed  solemnities.  Al- 
though, for  some  time  past,  the  I'rotestants  of  Santiago  have  had  a  place 
for  worshipping,  yet  it  seemed  that  their  growing  necessities,  and  the  am- 
ple protection  of  the  present  law  for  building  churches  and  founding 
schools,  demanded  that  they  should  enlarge  their  institutions,  presenting 
them  to  the  public,  and  not  concealing  them  in  some  out  of  the  way  place. 
The  new  Chapel  is  sufficiently  commodious,  and  is  found  in  Calle  Moneda 
No.  150,  and  is  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gilbert.  There  were 
present  at  the  ceremony  some  200  persons  among  whom  were  found 
the  Hon.  T.  H.  Nelson,  and  the  Hon.  Wra.  Taylor  Thompson,  the  Cap- 
tain and  other  officials  of  the  British  man-of-war  Columbine,  and  mnny 
other  English,  Americans  and  Germans.' 

"  Invited  by  his  co-rehgionists  of  Santiago,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Trumbull 
preached  the  opening  sermon. 

"  This  thing  has  not  been  done  in  a  corner,  and  no  opposition  has  mani- 
fested itself  It  all  speaks  highly  for  the  Chilians.  They  are  becoming  a 
liberal  people,  and  for  a  long  time  they  have  had  the  credit  of  having  had 
more  illiberality  than  has  really  existed.  But  for  the  last  three  years 
public  opinion  has  made  great  progress  in  the  subject  of  religious 
liberty." 


50 

But  since  Chili  has  had  a  government  of  her  own  every 
effort  has  been  made  to  procure  for  the  country  the  bene- 
fits arising  from  the  influx  of  sober,  industrious,  and  en- 
terprising emigrants.  Since  1812  agents  have  been  sent  to 
Europe  to  promote  emigration.  Several  societies  have  been 
formed  with  the  purpose  of  lending  aid  to  the  emigrant,  and 
lately  (in  1853)  the  government  appropriated,  by  a  special 
act  of  Congress,  nearly  a  million  of  acres,  to  be  ceded  to 
emigrants  on  the  most  liberal  terms. 

This  territory  lies  in  the  southern  part  of  Chili,  sur- 
rounding the  beautiful  Lake  Llanquihue,  a  large  body 
of  fresh  water,  which  is  navigated  by  many  little  crafts, 
and  which  will  soon  have  the  benefit  of  a  regular 
line  of  steamers.  The  map  accompanying  this  pamphlet 
shows  the  exact  location  of  this  happy  and  prosperous 
•colony,  under  the  name  of  the  Territory  of  Colonization. 
But  properly,  the  whole  province  of  Llanquihue,  the  center 
of  which  is  now  occupied  by  the  colony,  may  be  considered 
a  largefield  allotted  to  European  settlers. 

The  conditions  of  the  settlement  for  emigrants  cannot 
be  more  liberal,  just,  and  generous.  According  to  specia^ 
act  of  Congress  of  August  28,  1858,  the  emigration  lots 
are  to  be  distributed  under  the  following  rules  : 

1st.  Every  head  of  a  family  will  receive  an  arable  lot  of 
48  acres  (12  cuadras),  and  further,  24  acres  for  every  male 
child  which  has  reached  the  age  of  ten. 

2d.  The  government  defrays,  at  its  own  cost,  the  ex- 
pense of  landing  the  emigrants  at  the  nearest  port  to  the 
colony;  keeps  them  for  a  few  days  on  shore,  and  trans- 
sports  them  to  the  place  in  which  they  will  have  their  al- 
alloted  land,  and  their  cottages  built  by  their  own 
^  choice. 

3d.  A  monthly  pension  of  $15  is  allowed  to  every  fami- 
ily  during  the  first  year  of  settlement;  and  further,  they 
receive  the  necessary  seeds  for  the  first  season,  a  couple  of 
•  oxen,  a  cow  and  calf,  five  hundred  planks  for  building 
(purposes,  and  one  hundred  pounds  of  nails.  These  arti- 
cles are  to  be  valued  to  the  satisfaction  of  emigrants,  and 
^the  amount  is  refundable  by  yearly  installments,  free  of 
.interest,  and  in  very  convenient  proportions. 

4th.  Emigrants  are  exempted,  during  a  term  of  fifteen 
years  from  all  kinds  of  taxes,  general  or  municipal,  as  well 
as  from  all  kinds  of  public  or  civil  service;  and  further. 


51 

are  entitled  to  all  the  rights  of  Chilian  citizens,  with- 
out any  of  the  charges,  hy  a  simple  declaration  made  in 
the  presence  of  the  local  judge,  that  they  wish  to  settle 
permanently  in  the  country. 

5th.  The  free  exercise  of  religious  worship  is  estab- 
lished, and  every  sect  is  permitted  to  have  its  churches, 
clergy,  and  schools. 

The  colony  is  governed  by  an  Intendente  appointed  by 
the  government,  who  at  the  same  time  acts  as  an  emigra- 
tion commissioner,  and  is  empowered  to  decide  all  the  dif- 
ficulties arising  out  of  the  action  of  the  emigration  laws, 
having  always  in  view  the  benefit  of  the  settlers  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  colony. 

Under  such  liberal  and  judicious  regulations  the  colony 
of  Llanquihue  could  not  but  rapidly  develop  itself  Al- 
ready no  less  than  two  thousand  Germans  are  established 
within  its  precincts,  and  the  treasury  of  Chili  has  laid  out 
no  less  than  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  their  set- 
tlement and  comfort.  It  is  true  that  the  emigrants  are 
bound  to  refund  at  least  half  of  that  sum;  but  proposals 
were  lately  presented  to  the  government  to  bestow  that 
amount  upon  the  colony,  and  declare  the  settlers  free  of 
all  obligations. 

Agriculture  and  the  cutting  of  timber  and  lumber, 
which  is  of  a  first-rate  quality  in  those  primeval  woods, 
are  the  principal  occupations  of  the  community.  In  order 
to  show  the  growth  of  the  colony  and  the  extraordinary 
fertility  of  the  land,  we  here  insert  a  table  of  the  prin- 
cipal productions  of  the  rural  district  of  the  settlement 
during  the  year  1861: 

Articles.  Seed.  Result. 

"  "  19,844 

2,870 

8,726 

6,844 

161 

111 

It  is  fair  to  say  that  such  production  has  been  doubled, 
or  perhaps  tripled,  in  the  last  five  years,  as  there  were  in 
1863  no  less  than  forty-seven  thousand  acres  under  tillage. 


Potatoes,     . 

.     8,227 

Wheat,    . 

1,815 

Bye,    .        .        . 

276 

Barley  and  oats. 

572 

Peas, 

.       167 

Maize,     . 

23 

Beans, 

25 

52 

The  number  of  cattle  at  the  same  time  was  represented 
by  the  following  official  figures  : 

Cattle, 34,205 

Horses, 2,574 

Sheep, 9,210 

Mules, 206 

Goats,           ......  308 

Pigs, 3,214 

The  capital  of  the  colony,  called  either  Melipulli  or 
Puerto-Montt,  is  situated  on  the  large  and  beautiful  bay  of 
Keloncavi,  opposite  the  island  of  Chiloe.  It  already  has 
two  hundred  and  twenty-nine  houses,  and  two  thousand 
one  hundsed  and  fifty-two  small  cottages;  there  is  a 
Protestant  church  and  cemetery,  with  a  chaplain  paid 
by  the  community.  The  government  maintains  a  public 
library,  which  is  better  attended  than  any  other  in  the 
large  cities  of  the  country,  and  supports  two  or  three  free 
schools,  in  which  the  Catholic  religion  is  not  taught  but 
to  those  children  whose  parents  choose  to  educate  them  in 
that  creed.  Lately  a  plank-road  has  been  completed 
for  the  exportation  of  the  products  of  the  colony  between 
Melipulli  and  Lake  Llanquihue,  at  an  expense  of  $40,- 
000,  It  may  be  said  that  there  is  in  Chili  no  public 
institution  (and  as  such  emigration  is  considered  in  that 
enlightened  country)  to  which  more  attention  is  paid, 
or  towards  which  more  liberality  and  more  kindness  has 
been  shown  by  the  government  during  the  last  fifteen 
years,  than  in  the  German  colony  of  Llanquihue. 

Emigration,  however,  is  not  confined  to  that  southern 
settlement,  as  foreigners  of  all  nations,  especially  skillful 
workmen  in  practical  arts  and  trades,  find  a  ready  and  fair 
opening  in  all  parts  of  the  country;  the  miners  in  the 
north,  the  agriculturists  in  the  central  provinces,  and  the 
artisans,  carpenters,  bricklayers,  blacksmiths,  tailors,  etc., 
in  all  the  villages  and  larger  towns.  Lately  some  con- 
tracts have  been  made  by  proprietors  of  large  farms  en- 
gaging the  services  of  emigrants  for  a  certain  number  of 
years,  allowing  them  a  fixed  salary  and  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  irrigated  land.  But  these  enterprises  have  not 
proved  quite  successful,  owing  to  the  circumstance  that 
the  country  does  not  want  so  many  common  laborers,  but 
settlers  of  a  higher  grade. 


53 

It  has  been  calculated  that  Chili,  with  the  whole  of  her 
arable  land  under  cultivation,  is  capable  of  maintaining  a 
thriving  population  of  not  less  than  twelve  millions  of 
people.  Now  she  supports  only  two  millions,  and  of  these 
but  thirty  thousand  are  foreigners.  What  a  field  there 
is  open  for  the  men  who  are  brought  out  from  the  over- 
crowded countries  of  Europe  to  that  distant  but  beautiful, 
genial,  and  prolific  land,  where  everything  is  cheap,  abun- 
dant, prosperous,  increasing,  and,  above  all,  where  there 
is  the  greatest  blessing  of  mankind — liberty  ! 

CONCLUSION. 

We  deem  it  well  to  put  into  the  hands  of  persons  desi- 
rous of  paying  a  visit  to  Chili,  as  a  farewell  ticket,  the 
following  directions  : 

The  best  way  of  reaching  any  of  the  ports  of  Chili,  from 
Copiapo  to  Puerto  Montt,  is  by  the  steamers  plying 
thrice  a  month  between  New  York  and  Aspinwall  (six 
days),  then  crossing  the  isthmus  by  rail,  taking  on  the 
other  side  the  English  steamers  for  the  south,  which  con- 
nect at  Panama  with  those  of  New  York.  The  time  spent  • 
in  the  voyage  south  to  Callao,  the  principal  port  of  Peru, 
is  five  days;  to  Copiapo,  the  most  northern  part  of  Chili, 
six  days  ;  to  Valparaiso,  three  days;  to  Puerto  Montt, 
three  days — making  twenty-seven  days  between  New  York 
and  Valparaiso,  including  stoppages. 

Fares  from  $150  to  $400  through  passage  of  first,  second 
and  third  (steerage)  class  cabins. 

And  now  God  speed  all  who  choose  the  happy  land  of 
Chili  for  their  new  home,  and  bless  them  with  plenty, 
prosperity,  and  eternal  happiness  in  the  present  and  future 
world. 


SECOND    PART. 


CHILI 


UNITED    STATES    AND    SPAIN; 

A  SERIES  OF  LECTURES,   SPEECHES,   EDITORIAL  ARTICLES, 

AND  OTHER  PUBLICATIONS,  ON  THE  POSITION 

ASSUMED  BY  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  CHILI 

IN  THE  PENDING  WAR  WITH 

SPAIN. 

CONSIDERED  UNDER  THE  LIGHT  OF  THE 

PEESENT  FOEEIGN  POLICY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

Br 


NEW    YORK: 

Printed  by  S.  Hallet,  No.  60  Fi/lton  Street. 

1866. 


PREFACE. 


Several  publications  have  been  lately  made  in  Wash- 
ington and  New  York  upon  the  actual  war  between  Chili 
and  Spain.  But  as  most  of  these  papers  are  official 
documents,  interesting  only  to  a  limited  number  of  read- 
ers, we  have  considered  it  useful,  for  the  more  general  in- 
formation of  the  people,  both  in  the  United  States  and  in 
England,  to  reprint  from  the  daily  journals  some  pieces  of 
a  more  popular  character. 

We  have,  consequently,  given  preference  for  this  pur- 
pose, to  the  lectures  and  addresses  delivered  on  several 
occasions  by  Mr.  Vicuna  Mackenna,  a  public  writer  of 
Chili,  and  to  some  of  his  essays  published  in  that  country, 
and  which  bear  directly  on  the  political  intercourse  main- 
tained by  that  country  with  the  United  States. 

In  accordance  with  this  idea,  we  publish  in  this  pam- 
phlet the  following  papers  : 

I.  A  lecture  delivered  by  Mr.  Vicuna  Mackenna  at  the 
Traveler's  Club  of  New  York,  on  the  night  of  the  2d 
December,  1865,  on  the  "  Present  Condition  and  Pros- 
pects of  Chili,"  which  gives  a  general  idea  of  this  country 
so  little  known  abroad,  and  introduces  in  the  proper  place 
the  pending  conflict  with  Spain. 

II.  A  letter  addressed  by  Mr.  Vicuna  Mackenna,  in  his 
private  character  as  a  citizen  of   Chili,   to  the  Editor  of 


the  "  Epoca,"  a  leading  journal  of  Madrid,  and  wlilcli 
was  published,  with  some  editorial  comments,  on  the  2d 
December,  1865. 

III.  An  address  delivered  by  the  same  author  at  a  public 
meeting  in  Panama,  held  on  the  9th  of  November  last,  and 
intended  to  explain  the  origin,  character,  and  probable 
issue  of  that  obnoxious  question. 

IV.  The  proceedings  of  a  general  mass  meeting  which 
took  place  in  New  York  on  the  night  of  January  6,  1866, 
and  was  got  up  with  a  view  to  exhibit  the  sympathies 
of  the  American  people  for  the  South  American  Repub- 
lics, and  especially  Chili. 

V.  A  short  description  of  a  political  banquet  offered, 
on  the  6th  of  December,  to  the  Press  of  New  York,. 
and  to  the  Spanish-American  diplomatists  residing  in 
this  city,  together  with  some  remarks  made  by  Mr. 
Vicuna  Mackenna  at  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Union 
League  Gluh  of  New  York,  on  the  night  of  the  14th  of 
December,  on  the  Telegraphs  of  Chile  ;  and  lastly 

VI.  A  short  biography  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  16th  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  written  in  Chili,  with  the  pur- 
pose of  exhibiting  the  feelings  of  the  Chilean  nation 
towards  the  United  States  in  the  hour  of  her  most  critical 
trials, 

In  the  form  of  an  Appendix,  we  publish  some  other 
documents  relating  to  the  main  subject  of  this  pamphlet. 


THE 

REPUBLIC    OF    CHILI, 

ITS  PEESENT  CONDITION  AND  PEOSPEOTS. 


(An  outline  of  her  Geography,  Gaology,  Social  Manners,  Political  Institutions, 
Mineral  and  Agricultural  Wealth,  Commerce,  Statrstios,  Public  Education,  Rail-Roads, 
and  Hints  on  her  present  War  with  Spain.) 


A  LECTURE  BEFORE  THE  TRAVELER'S  CLUB  OF  NEW  YORK, 
ON  THE  "PRESENT  CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS  OF  CHILI," 
BY  B,  VICUNA  MACKENNA. 

Last  Saturday  evening,  December  2d,  1865,  a  select 
and  numerous  assembly  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  met  at 
the  elegant  apartments  of  the  Traveler's  Club  of  New 
York,  on  special  invitation,  to  hear  a  lecture  on  Chili  by 
Hon.  B.  Vicuna  Mackenna,  special  envoy  of  that  republic 
to  the  United  States.  The  lecturer  having  been  introduced 
by  Mr.  Dunbar,  President  of  th'^  Committee  of  Directors 
of  the  Club,  proceeded  to  deliver  his  lecture  in  the  follow- 
ing terms,  in  the  English  language  : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  I  am  afraid  I  have  under- 
taken an  enterprise  beyond  my  abilities  in  addressing  you 
on  "  The  Present  State  and  Prospects  of  Chili,"  my  be- 
loved country.  It  is  true  that  I  have  been  accustomed  to 
address  large  assemblies,  but  this  is  the  first  time  I  have 
dared  to  speak  in  the  presence  of  ladies,  or  in  a  language 
not  familiar  to  me.  But  I  have  surrendered  myself  to  the 
kind  invitation  of  the  Traveler's  Club,  and  undertaken 
the  duty  of  serving  my  country  in  the  best  way  possible 
for  a  foreigner  in  a  hospitable  land,  and  to  that  kindness 
and  indulgence  that  is  always  the  accompaniment  of 
beauty  and  talent. 


Permit  me  now,  as  an  introductory  remark,  to  point  out 
to  you  some  of  the  more  peculiar  topographical  features 
of  Chili,  and  which,  I  hope,  will  explain  to  you  many 
facts  and  particular  traits  of  our  nation  as  a  people,  and  as 
a  prominent  member  of  the  family  of  South  American  Re- 
publics. 

PECUlilAK"  GEOGRAPHICAL    POSITION    OF    CHILI. 

In  the  first  place,  Chili  has  its  boundaries  laid  out,  as  if 
by  the  hand  of  God,  for  forming  a  single  nation,  a  people 
of  a  peculiar  and  defined  character,  a  family,  I  dare  say, 
of  good  and  noble  citizens.  Chili  has  no  neighbors,  pro- 
perly speaking.  Its  limits  are  almost  impassable  to  all 
nations.  On  the  east  the  lofty  Andes,  covered  with  eter- 
nal snow  ;  at  the  north  the  desert  of  Atacama,  a  wilder- 
ness of  six  hundred  miles,  where  neither  man  nor  animal, 
nor  even  the  hardiest  of  plants  can  live  ;  on  the  south  the 
boundless  plains  of  savage  and  unknown  Patagonia  ;  on 
the  west,  its  only  vulnerable  side,  the  mighty  Pacific 
Ocean. 

To  this  particular  and  almost  isolated  geographical  po- 
sition of  Chili,  and  to  its  mountainous  formation,  have 
been  attributed,  by  both  the  historian  and  the  philosophi- 
cal naturalist,  the  love  of  liberty  and  independence  exhi- 
bited by  her  sons — a  feeling  which  appears  common  to  all 
peoples  who  live  by  themselves  and  for  themselves.  To 
the  same  causes  may  be  ascribed  that  boundless  patriotism 
of  my  countrymen,  developed  in  such  a  unanimous  and 
earnest  manner  on  the  very  day  when  old  and  fast-decaying 
Spain  unfolded  her  flag — so  many  times  beaten  by  us — in 
new  defiance  of  our  honor  and  our  power.     (Hear,  hear.) 

UNITY    OF    RACES. 

In  the  next  place.  Chili  enjoys  the  great  privilege  of 
unity  of  race.  Far  fiom  tropical  climates,  we  did  not  in- 
cur that  great  calamity  of  greater  nations — slavery  ;  and, 
at  the  same  time,  the  Spanish  conquerors,  finding  in  the 
proud  and  brave  Araucanians  and  Promacas,  the  natives 
of  the  land,  a  race  worthy  of  theirs,  became  intermixed 
with  them  in  such  a  manner  that  to  find  in  Chili  an  In- 
dian or  a  negro  is  a  thing  next  to  impossible.  In  fact, 
small  negroes  are  brought  from  Lima  to  be  kept  in  the 
largest  houses  of  Santiago  as  an  ornamental  piece  of  fur- 
niture.    It  is  owing  to  this  that,  although  we  are  only  two 


millions  of  men,  we  represent  a  population  almost  as  great 
as  that  of  Mexico,  wliich  has  six  millions  of  Indians,  en- 
tirely unfitted  for  civilization,  and,  in  fact,  more  inclined 
to  oppose  than  to  accept  it. 

VARIETY   OF    CLIMATE. 

In  the  third  place.  Chili  possesses  all  varieties  of  cli- 
mate, from  the  warm  and  semi-tropical  valleys  of  Copiapo 
to  the  frozen  regions  of  the  Archipelago  of  Chiloe.  So  it 
is  that  at  the  same  time  are  flowering,  under  a  pure  and 
diaphanous  sky,  the  banana  and  the  pineaj)ple  in  the 
north,  the  peach  and  the  watermellon  in  the  central  val- 
leys, and  the  fruits  of  the  pinones,  or  fir-pines,  in  its 
southern  limits.  It  is  to  these  circumstances,  probably, 
that  Chili  is  indebted  for  the  name  of  the  "  Italy  of  South 
America,"  although  it  has  also  been  called  by  some  kind 
traveler,  Avho  wished  to  explain  the  name  of  our  principal 
port,  Valparaiso — "  the  Valley  of  Paradise."  At  least  the 
Chilian  ladies  believe,  as  a  matter  of  faith,  that  they  are 
living  in  the  spot  first  inhabited  by  Eve  ;  and  I  may  add 
that  the  immense  woods  of  wild  apple  trees  which  cover 
our  southern  provinces  give  some  reason  for  their  romantic 
belief     (Applause.) 

IMMENSE    EXTENSION    OF    COAST. 

There  is  another  peculiarity  of  the  physical  structure  of 
Qhili — its  immense  extent  of  coast  of  more  than  two 
thousand  miles,  indented  by  hundreds  of  ports  and  bays, 
which  make  the  country  fitted  for  carrying  on,  throughout 
its  entire  extent,  an  active  and  profitable  commerce  with 
the  rest  of  the  world.  In  fact,  internal  locomotion  in 
Chili  is  almost  unnecessary  ;  and  so  near  are  the  Andes  to 
the  coast,  that  a  witty  Venezuelan  critic,  the  tutor  of  Bo- 
livar, used  to  say,  "  that  the  country  being  so  narrow,  the 
Chilians  were  obliged  to  cling  with  their  nails  to  the  sides 
of  the  Andes  to  avoid  falling  into  the  sea."  But  I  make 
this  remark  only  to  show  you  how  easy  it  is  for  the  for- 
eigner to  reach  ourcountry  without  any  expenses  of  inland 
traveling  and  settling,  and  to  point  out  what  S2)lendid  pros- 
pects are  there  open  to  foreign  emigration. 

And  that  is  the  very  country,  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
with  such  boundless  extent  of  shores,  that  the  Spanish 
Admiral  Pareja  dares  to  declare  is  generally  and  completely 
blockaded  with  five  old  frigates,  when  it  is  in  the  memory 


8 

of  every  one  that  you  needed  no  less  tlian  462  ships  to 
keep  up  a  blockade  (not  always  effective)  of  just  the  same 
extent  of  sea-coast  during  your  late  gigantic  war,  Pareja 
declared  the  blockade  of  all  our  ports,  which  are  sixty  or 
seventy,  and  do  you  know  how  the  Government  of  Chili 
answered  that  ridiculous  threat  ?  Declaring  free  and  ac- 
cessible to  all  nations  sixty  or  seventy  ports  more. 

But  in  the  present  age,  when  Don  Quixote  is  dead  and 
buried  for  ever  in  La  Mancha,  with  all  the  pride  and  chiv- 
alry of  the  old  Castilians,  the  invention  of  steam  has,  it 
seems,  brought  them  to  sea  ;  and  there  is  Admiral  Pareja, 
the  Don  Quixote  of  the  Pacific,  trying  to  shut  up  to  the 
commerce  of  the  world  no  less  than  a  hundred  ports  with 
a  fleet  of  five  frigates  !  The  story  of  the  wind-mills  re- 
curs to  every  one.  (Laughter.)  But  I  have  now,  with 
your  kind  permission,  to  follow  steadily  the  thread  ol  my 
lecture. 

PARTICULAK  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  OCEAN. 

There  is  yet  something  worthy  of  your  notice  in  the 
formation  of  Chili.  Exposed  as  it  is  in  its  whole  extent 
and  widely  open  to  the  direct  influence  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  the  soil  derives  from  its  grateful  breezes  a  robust 
and  wholesome  veoretation,  which  covers  her  fields  with 
carpets  of  flowers  and  boundless  prairies  of  pasturage. 
This  climatogical  peculiarity  is  most  striking  when  the 
traveler  to  Chili  from  the  east  of  the  Andes  crosses  from 
that  petrifi,ed  ocean  of  earth  called  the  "  Pampas  of 
Buenos  Ayres."  There,  on  the  oriental  side  of  the  lofty 
mountains,  every  trace  of  natural  vegetation  disappears, 
as  if  Chili  was  ambitiously  taking  for  itself,  ancl  pumping 
into  the  other  side,  that  moisture  from  the  surface  of  the 
ocean  which  renders  rich  and  beautiful  her  plains  and  val- 
leys. It  is  supposed  at  the  same  time,  that  the  elasticity 
of  the  atmosphere  along  the  shores  of  Chili  has  a  certain 
influence  on  the  minds  of  the  people — giving  a  more  acute 
intelligence  to  those  living  in  the  vicinity  of  the  ocean 
than  the  inhabitants  of  the  interior  enjoy.  That  was,  at 
least,  the  opinion  of  an  old  Jesuit  historian,  Miguel  de 
Olivarez,  who  probably  lived  on  the  sea  coast. 

GEOLOGY  OF  CHILI. 

I  will  devote  a  moment  to  giving  you  a  passing  idea  of 
the  o-eneral  geological  formation  of  Chili.     No  country 


9 

has,  perhaps^  more  to  interest  the  modern  geologist  than 
that  unexplored  region.  With  the  exception  of  the  Ger- 
man traveler  Meyer,  the  eminent  English  naturalist  Dar- 
win, and  our  Professor  Pissis,  nobody  has  devoted  even  a 
superficial  study  to  that  branch  of  science  in  our  country. 
If  the  famous  Ltell,  or  Prof.  Agassiz,  now  busily  en- 
gaged on  the  banks  of  the  Amazones,  liad  visited  our 
shores,  many  important  discoveries  wonld  have  been  add- 
ed to  that  beautiful  science. 

But,  nevertheless,  it  is  clearly  demonstrated  from  what 
is  now  known  that  Chili  is  quite  a  modern  country. 
There  are,  indeed,  persons  still  living  who,  I  can  properly 
say,  have  seen  it  growing,  and  coming  but  as  a  new-born 
giant  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  The  phenomenon  of 
the  gradual  rising  of  the  shores,  which  has  been  observed 
as  well  in  Norway  and  in  some  other  parts  of  the  world, 
is  plainly  visible  in  Chili.  Admiral  Fitzroy  saw  it  with 
his  own  eyes,  when  the  earthquake  of  1835  (the  last  se- 
vere one  we  have  experienced)  took  place.  In  a  few  min- 
utes the  land  was  raised  in  some  places  many  feet ;  a 
small  island  appeared  in  the  bay  of  Talcahuano,  and  so 
uniform  was  and  is  yet  continuing  to  be  this  gradual  ris- 
ing of  the  land,  that  the  theatre  of  Valparaiso  stands  now 
in  a  place  that  thirty  years  ago  formed  part  of  the  anchor- 
age for  ships. 

These  facts  prove,  in  my  humble  opinion,  that  Chili  is 
quite  a  new  country,  comparatively,  and  as  far  as  I  know, 
'no  traces  have  ever  been  found  within  its  limits  of  an  age 
previous  to  the  tertiary  period.  The  general  opinion  that 
the  Andes  belong  to  the  last  epochs  of  the  formation  of 
the  earth,  is  entirely  confirmed  in  the  Chilian  system  of 
those  j)rodigious  mountains. 

And  upon  that  matter  allow  me  to  relate  a  very  simple 
fact  which  illustrates  fully  in  its  own  simplicity  the  tre- 
mendous revolution  which  that  part  of  the  Continent  has 
goue  through.  The  geologist  Darv/in  found,  in  1837,  in 
the  pass  of  the  Pinquenes,  at  the  elevation  of  15,000  feet, 
the  trunk  of  a  pine  standing  with  its  roots  firm  on  the 
rocks,  and  saturated  with  marine  salts  and  incrustations 
of  shells.  The  trunk  was  cut,  brought  to  England,  and 
there  the  analysis  proved  that  it  had  been  under  the  water 
of  the  sea  for  many  years,  perhaps  centuries. 

Well,  now,  the  conclusions  that  we  derive  from  that 
modest  discovery  are  very  striking.     In  the  first  place,  it 


10 

shov/s  that  the  tree  liad  existed  in  firm  land  where  it  first 
put  out  its  roots.  Next,  by  some  powerful  change  of  the 
earth,  shaken  by  volcanic  action,  the  land  was  submerged, 
when  the  tree  got  petrified  with  marine  salts,  and  after- 
ward was  again  uplifted  to  the  immense  height  in  which 
it  was  found.  It  is,  perhaps,  interesting  to  know  that 
that  kind  of  tree  does  not  now  exist  in  the  same  latitude. 

THE  THREE  KINGDOMS  OF  NATURE. 

I  wished,  gentlemen,  to  be  able  to  entertain  you  at 
length  about  the  beauties  and  marvels  of  Chili,  and  its  re- 
sources in  the  three  kingdoms  of  nature,  from  the  humble 
calceolaria,  a  wild  flower  of  Chili,  admired  by  all  the  lov- 
ers of  gardening,  to  the  gigantic  palm  tree  (Jubea  specta- 
hilis),  indigenous  to  Chili,  worthy  of  taking  a  place  among 
the  tallest  trees  of  the  California  or  Nevada  forests. 

But  that  course  would  take  us  a  long  distance  from  our 
principal  purpose,  and  I  beg  your  kind  permission  to  pass 
over  any  picturesque  description,  and  limit  myself  to  point 
out  the  general  outlines  of  the  land,  although  1  am 
afraid  of  fatiguing  you  with  the  dryness  of  my  discourse. 
[No,  no.     Go  on  !] 

I  will  only  call  your  attention  to  a  more  decided  physi- 
cal feature  of  Chili,  in  order  to  explain  to  you  more  clearly 
the  general  aspect  of  the  country. 

A  perfect  line  of  separation  divides,  and,  indeed,  nearly 
in  the  centre,  two  very  different  portions  of  the  land. 
That  line  is  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Aconcagua,  which 
was  properly  called  "  Chili"  in  the  time  of  the  Spanish 
conquest. 

To  the  north  of  that  valley  the  country  is  formed  by  a 
series  of  high  granite  and  basaltic  chains  that  descend 
transversely  from  the  Andes  to  the  sea,  and  are  cut  at 
proportional  distances  by  deep  and  narrow  valleys,  teem- 
ing with  vegetation  and  villages  thickly  populated.  These 
are  the  valleys  of  Copiapo,  so  famous  by  its  immense  pro- 
duction of  silver ;  next,  the  valley  of  Coquimbo,  which 
produces  perhaps  half  of  the  copper  that  comes  every  year 
into  the  markets  of  the  world,  and  the  valleys  of  Huasco, 
Ligua  and  Petorca,  noted  for  the  abundance  of  gold  they 
produced  in  the  time  of  the  Spaniards. 

I  cannot  give  you  the  exact  statistics  of  the  immense 
wealth  buried  in  those  northern  mountains,  but  some  facts 
that  I  will  take  the  liberty  of  mentioning  to  you  hereafter 


11 

will  give  you  some  idea  of  the  marvelous  profits  which 
those  localities  oiFer  to  industry  and  capital.  Southward 
of  the  Aconcagua  valley  the  structure  of  the  territory 
changes  entirely.  The  mountains  disappear  and  a  series 
of  magnificent'  broad  valleys,  which  were  undoubtedly 
large  geographical  basins  and  lakes,  now  converted  into 
real  gardens  of  cultivation,  come  to  sight. 

The  first  of  these  large  valleys,  which  preserves  the 
form  of  an  immense  lake  drained  by  nature,  is  that  of  the 
Mapocho,  in  the  centre  of  which  lies  the  beautiful  capital 
of  Chili,  and  is,  perhaps,  200  miles  in  circumference. 
Next  follows  that  of  Rancagua ;  next  that  of  Colchagua, 
and  so  forth  up  to  the  mighty  Biobio,  now  navigated  by 
steamers,  which  is  the  boundary  of  civilized  Chili.  To 
those  who  have  visited  the  plains  of  Lombardy  or  glanced 
over  the  valley  of  Mexico  from  the  heights  of  the  Sierra 
Madre,  the  view  of  the  Chilian  valleys  will  undoubtedly 
bring  to  their  minds  pleasant  recollections  and  comparisons, 
the  endless  rows  of  poplar  trees  and  a  real  net  of  irrigat- 
ing canals  being  the  principal  features  of  the  landscape. 
And  here  another  trait  of  the  physiognomy  of  the  coun- 
try comes  out.  The  immense  plains  of  the  Araucania, 
whose  wild  and  brave  children  live  and  die  on  the  back  of 
their  swift  horses,  worthy  yet  by  their  courage  and  their 
indisputable  love  of  their  native  land,  of  the  finest  and 
most  beautiful  of  Spanish  poems — the  Araucana. 

Further  to  the  southern  extremity  of  those  plains  be- 
gins what  we  might  call  the  fourth  system  of  the  topo- 
graphy of  Chili,  the  primitive  mountains  which  the  human 
foot  has  never  trod,  and  the  immense  rivers  and  lakes  not 
yet  explored  by  science. 

The  last  aspect  of  the  country  is  afforded  by  the  barren 
and  endless  plains  of  Patagonia,  which  extend  from  the 
limits  of  the  province  of  Llanquihiie  to  the  settlement  of 
Punta  Arenas,  in  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  a  place  well 
known  to  all  the  American  navigators  who  choose  to  go 
through  that  passage  between  the  two  oceans. 

WEALTH  IN  SILVER. 

Now  permit  me  to  make  a  very  rapid  inland  tour  from 
Gopiapo  down  to  Valdivia,  in  order  to  point  out  to  you 
some  of  the  more  prominent  features  of  the  principal 
provinces  into  which  Chili  is  divided,  being  fourteen  in 
number. 


12 

On  a  cliily  night,  thirty  years  ago,  a  shepherd  made  a 
fire  in  the  mountains  of  Copiapo,  and  next  morning  he 
saw  at  his  feet  a  stream  of  silver,  which  the  heat  had 
melted.  That  was  the  discovery  of  the  mines  of  Copiapo, 
which  have  produced  in  thirty  years  more  than  $100,000,- 
000.  Now  they  are  rather  in  the  decay  ;  but  the  produce 
of  the  last  year  was  $1,638,272 — a  sum  inferior  to  that 
of  Guanajuato  and  Eeal  del  Monte,  which  the  anonymous 
and  ominous  company  of  Napoleon  and  Maximilian  wishes 
to  develop,  against  the  decided  opinion  of  the  old  and  glo- 
rious President  Monroe. 

IMMENSE  PRODUCTION  OF  COPPER, 

Next  follows  the  province  of  Coquimbo,  whose  capital, 
the  beautiful  town  of  La  Serena  rests,  a  real  syren  at  the 
foot  of  the  hills  by  the  sea  side,  supporting  a  population 
of  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  containing  some  of 
the  most  beautiful  and  syren-like  daughters  of  Chili. 

The  wealth  of  that  province  is  almost  indescribable. 
There  is,  indeed,  a  mountain,  that  of  Famaya,  formed,  if 
it  could  be  so  said,  of  pure  copper  ore.  The  value  of  this, 
single  product,  as  it  is  manufactured  in  Chili,  was,  in 
1864,  $9,506,957,  and  that  of  the  copper  regulus,  or 
in  its  more  imperfect  state,  $4,716,912,  making  in  the 
whole  (and  not  taking  in  consideration  the  raw  ore  sent 
to  England,  and  which  is  worth  several  millions),  the  im- 
mense amount  of  $14,221,849. 

Now  you  will  be  able  to  form  an  idea  of  the  deep  alarm 
awakened  in  England  on  the  arrival  of  the  the  news  that 
through  the  mere  wicked  and  cowardly  caprice  of  a  vul- 
gar sailor,  such  a  fountain  of  so  valualjle  and  indispensa- 
ble an  article  was  shut  off  from  the  commerce  and  urgent 
necessities  of  the  world.  The  London  Times,  denouncing 
to  all  civilized  nations,  in  warm  and  eloquent  language, 
the  unwarrantable  conduct  of  Spain,  declares  in  its  lead- 
ing article  of  the  19th  inst.,  that  out  of  498,780  cwt.  of 
manufectured  copper  imported  last  year  into  England, 
304,380  cwt.,  that  is  to  say,  more  than  two- thirds,  came 
from  Chili,  and  that  out  of  25,000  tons  of  regulus  22,000 
tons,  or  almost  the  whole  quantity,  came  from  that  source. 

And  now  I  beg  to  ask,  in  the  presence  of  these  data,  if 
such  a  country,  young,  energetic,  and  industrious, 
and  which  sends  to  Europe  every  year  more  than  twenty 
millions  of  dollars,  in  only  two  standard  articles,  is  to  be 


13 

conquered,  to  be  humiliated  by  Spain,  ruled,  as  she  is,  by 
a  corrupt  court,  without  credit  whatever  in  the  markets 
of  the  world,  and  whose  name  is  perpetually  placed  on  the 
black  slate  of  the  hopeless  debtors,  at  the  very  hour  that 
the  bonds  of  Chili  are  quoted  at  a  higher  rate  thaa  those 
of  any  other  nation,  England,  France,  or  the  United  States 
included  ?     (Long  applause.) 

ITS  AGRICULTURAL  WEALTH. 

Now,  I  will  detain  you  a  little  while  in  Santiago,  the 
capital  of  Chili,  as  the  remainder  of  the  country  south- 
ward is  merely  a  rich  but  mountainous  series  of  agricul- 
tural valleys  and  plains,  with  large  but  rather  dull  old- 
fashioned  Spanish  towns.  It  will  be  interesting,  never- 
theless, to  establish  the  fact  that  this  part  of  the  country 
after  providing  liberally  for  the  interior  wants  of  all  classes, 
leaves  a  surplus  of  flour  and  wheat  of  the  value  of  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  which  are  paid  to  us  by  Peru,  Brazil,  and 
even  England.  The  statistical  report  of  last  year  shows 
an  exportation  of  $2,231,090  flour,  and  $1,039,071  wheat. 
In  the  golden  days  of  the  discovery  of  California  these 
values  amounted  to  several  millions  more,  being  ourselves 
during  three  or  four  years,  the  sole  source  of  agricultural 
supplies  for  El  Dorado. 

THE  SOCIETY  OF  CHILI. 

Let  us  now  rest  for  a  while  in  the  capital  of  Chili,  the 
sunny  land  of  my  boyhood,  where  my  heart  iirst  beat  to 
the  tender  feelings  of  hope  and  love,  and  where  yet  Go4 
is  willing  to  rejoice  my  home  with  the  presence  of  all  that 
there  is  dear  in  life,  fathers,  brothers,  friends.   [Applause.] 

But  before  going  any  further  in  the  social  consideration 
of  my  native  land,  I  will  call  your  kind  attention  to  a 
very  singular  idea  prevailing  in  this  country,  and  almost 
everywhere  in  the  Atlantic  nations,  and  about  the  habits, 
morals,  and  social  condition  of  the  South  American  repub- 
lics. The  other  day  a  friend  of  mine,  and  a  man  of  un- 
doubted superiority  in  this  country,  looking  at  my  clothes 
in  Broadway,  asked  me  with  surprise,  if  such  things  were 
used  in  Chili,  or  if  I  had  bought  them  in  New  York. 
[Grreat  laughter.] 

But  the  explanation  of  these  curious  errors  consists  in 
the  fact  that  a  great  majority  of  the  people  forming  their 
ideas  through  reading  novels  and  sensation  books,  believe 


14 

us  to  be  pure  Indians,  as  those  described  by  the  masterly 
pen  of  Cooper  ;  or  cavaliers  of  the  style  of  the  old  con- 
querors of  Peru  and  Mexico,  so  admirably  described  by 
Irving  and  Prescott,  and  who  adored  only  two  things 
during  their  dark  days,  the  Inquisition  and  the  bull-fight. 
[Laughter.] 

But  the  truth  is,  that  we  live,  dress,  eat,  walk,  drive, 
and  expend  our  money  in  much  the  same  way  that 
the  sons  of  the  beautiful  and  mighty  Manhattan  Island 
dress,  drive,  and  spend  their  money.  (Laughter.)  The 
only  substantial  difference  being,  I  must  say,  that  there 
the  mildness  of  the  climate  permits  us  to  use  more  light 
clothing,  for  although  Crinoline  has  already  imposed  her 
despotic  rule,  the  ladies  of  Santiago  do  not  yet  wear  lioohs 
and  loaterfalls.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  it  may  be 
possible,  though,  that  Pareja  will  let  them  have  some  nice 
liooks  out  of  his  old  flagship,  the  Villa  de  Madrid. 

SANTIAGO. 

Santiago  possesses  a  theatre  which  is  considered  the  third 
in  the  world  after  that  of  San  Carlos  of  Naples,  and  the 
Scala  of  Milan,  by  its  immense  proportions,  having  been 
built  ten  years  ago  at  an  expense  of  nearly  $400,000;  and 
I  mention  these  circumstances  only  to  give  a  small  proof 
of  the  taste  and  comforts  of  life  in  that  capital  of  120,000 
inhabitants,  which  contains  5,000  large  houses,  possesses 
more  bronze  statues  of  national  heroes  than  the  imperial 
city  of  New  York,  and  supports  in  luxurious  garb  few  less 
churches  than  Kome  itself.  But,  gentlemen,  upon  this 
matter  it  will  appear  to  me  something  like  a  shame  to  try 
to  convince  you  that  we  are  a  civilized  community,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  contradict  the  foolish  and  childish  stories 
of  vulgar  travelers.  About  this  class  of  informants,  I 
will  say  only  that  I  know  a  single  one  sincere  and  earnest 
in  what  he  tells  about  my  country.  I  refer  to  the  well- 
known  German  traveler,  Gerstaker,  once  a  fireman  on  a 
Mississippi  steamer,  and  who,  having  seen  some  of  the 
large  courts  of  our  houses  in  Santiago  paved  with  small 
bones,  forming  beautiful  ornamental  ])atterns,  declares 
solemnly  that  the  vindictive  character  of  the  Chilians  has 
led  them  to  pave  their  houses  with  the  bones  of  the  Spa- 
niards killed  in  the  war  of  Independence.     (Laughter.) 


15 

HISTORICAL    HINTS. 

Now,  passing  from  society  to  the  political  institutions 
of  the  country,  I  will  only  mention  that  Chili  was  dis- 
covered in  1535  by  Diego  de  Almagro,  about  fifty  years 
after  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus.  That  great  soldier, 
Pedro  Valdivia,  conquered  the  Indians  north  of  the  Bio- 
bio,  in  a  war  of  more  than  ten  years'  duration,  in  which 
he  himself  fell  a  victim,  and  that  since  those  days  up  to 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  Chili,  like  all  the 
Spanish  colonies,  has  slept  a  melancholy  and  undisturbed 
sleep,  but  yet  a  long,  long,  miserable  dream  of  slavery,  dark- 
ness, and  humiliation. 

During  two  centuries,  indeed,  there  did  not  exist  more 
life  in  those  countries  than  that  lent  by  Spain  itself,  once 
a  year,  when  the  galeon  arrived  with  all  the  goods  and  all 
the  news  for  the  coming  twelve  months.  The  only  histori- 
cal record  of  those  days  is  of  a  dispute  between  the  judges 
and  the  canons  for  the  precedence  of  seats  in  public  festi- 
vals or  processions,  the  burning  of  a  wealthy  heretic,  or 
the  prayer-days  fixed  upon  by  proper  authority,  when  the 
news  was  brought  that  some  of  the  chaste  Bourbon  prin- 
cesses or  queens  were  to  be  delivered  of  a  prince  or  prin- 
cess.    (Laughter.) 

And  it  is  to  those  days  that  Spain  desires  now  to  bring 
again  her  lost  sons  on  this  side  of  the  water.  And  she  has 
attacked  successively  San  Domingo,  Mexico,  Peru,  and 
Chili,  forgetting  that  she  has  already  a  grown-up  daughter 
much  nearer  to  us  than  to  her,  and  to  which,  perhaps,  in 
no  distant  day,  we  shall  pay  our  compliments,  being  our- 
selves ready  to  receive  her  at  any  time  in  the  common 
home  of  the  American  Eepublics,  and  she  quite  ready  to 
come.     (Long  and  enthusiastic  applause.) 

But  that  state  of  things  did  not  last  long  with  us.  The 
influence  of  the  French  revolution  of  '89,  the  old  wrongs 
of  Spain  to  our  country,  the  secret  support  of  commercial 
and  enterprising  England,  and  above  all  things,  the  direct 
pressure  of  the  independence  of  the  North  American  colo- 
nies, brought  us  to  a  war  with  Spain. 

That  war  lasted  sixteen  years.  Spain  was  beaten  every 
day  on  all  the  shores,  in  all  the  mountains,  in  all  the  val- 
leys of  South  America,  and  at  last  Bolivar  and  San  Mar- 
tin, our  two  great  liberators,  standing  like  the  giants  of  ths 
Andes  in  the  plains  of  Ayacucho,  on  the  9th  of  December 


16 

1824,  cut  for  ever,  with  the  sword  of  victory,  the  hateful 
bond  of  colonial  royalty. 

INFLUENCE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

I  have  just  mentioned  that  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  forcibly  aided  ours,  and  1  hope  I  shall  be 
allowed  to  state  that  since  those  days  the  influence  of 
American  institutions  (if  not  of  all  American  Presidents 
and  Cabinets)  has  been  powerfully  reflected  in  our  public 
life.  Madison  and  his  great  secretary,  James  Monroe, 
were  the  first  to  come  to  our  help.  The  earliest  diploma- 
tic agent  ever  sent  to  the  revolutionary  colonies  was  the 
famous  Joel  Poinsett,  of  North  Carolina,  who  fought  with 
us  our  own  battles. 

Next  to  that,  the  American  Government,  passing  from 
the  sympathy  of  principles  to  the  responsibility  of  doc- 
trine, wrote  in  the  infallible  code  of  her  public  institutions, 
and  of  her  own  existence  as  a  nation,  those  two  principles, 
which  shall  live  as  long  as  there  will  be  life  and  honor  in 
the  country  of  George  Washington  and  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, viz  : 

1st — "  The  American  continents,  by  the  free  and  inde- 
pendent conditions  which  they  have  assumed  and  main- 
tained, are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for 
future  colonization  by  any  European  Power. 

2nd — "  The  United  States  consider  any  attempt  on  the 
part  of  European  Powers  to  extend  their  system  to  any 
portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  their  peace  and 
safety." 

HONORS   PAID   TO   WASHINGTON    AND   LINCOLN. 

And  in  this  part  of  my  discourse,  I  beg  leave  to  halt  for 
a  while,  and  take  the  liberty  of  reading  to  you  a  brief  par- 
agraph from  a  speech  delivered  in  behalf  of  the  interests 
of  the  United  States,  on  the  eve  of  the  Fourth  of  July, 
of  1864,  in  the  Chilian  Congress,  of  which  I  had  the 
honor  of  being  a  member,  and  which  translated  faithfully 
will  wholly  explain  my  thoughts. 

"  But  allow  me,  at  least,"  I  said  on  that  occasion  to  my 
fellow-Representatives,  "  to  bring  to  your  mind  that  since 
the  United  States  became  a  free  nation,  that  is  to  say, 
since  they  ceased  to  be  a  mere  appendix  to  a  monarchy, 
thev  have  always  stretched  out  to  us  the  hand  of  friendship 
and  of  brotherhood.     They  sent  to  us,  in  1812,  the  first 


17 

printing  establishment,  by  which  means  the  early  light  of 
our  freedom  broke  out  among  us.  They  were  the  first  to 
accredit  a  diplomatic  agent  to  our  country,  Consul  Poin- 
sett, who  enlisted  as  a  volunteer  in  our  revolutionary 
army.  They  furnished  General  Carrera  with  a  fleet  worth 
over  a  million  of  dollars,  though  he  landed  on  this  soil  a 
poor,  proscribed,  and  unknown  man.  All  their  great 
statesmen  have  been  ardent  friends  of  South  America. — 
Madison  acknowledged  our  independence  ;  Adams  co- 
operated with  Bolivar  to  lay  down  the  basis  of  American 
Union  at  the  Congress  of  Panama  ;  Monroe  raised  up  the 
protecting  shield  of  his  famous  doctrine  over  both  conti- 
nents; and  lately,  the  honest  and  immortal  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, the  rail-splitter,  dispatched  friendly  messengers  to 
each  of  the  Spanish- American  Republics  to  settle  their 
old  difficulties  with  the  United  States." 

And  further,  let  me  add,  that  when  the  appalling 
martyrdom  of  this  great  magistrate  reached  my  country, 
I  saw  many,  many  tears  in  my  own  home,  and  many, 
many  pale  and  mournful  faces  everywhere,  as  a  testimony 
of  how  pure  and  how  sincere  was  our  love  for  that  new 
redeemer  of  mankind.  For  myself,  I  take  the  liberty  of 
stating  that  I  wrote  a  short  biography  of  that  eminent 
man,  and  moved  in  the  House  of  Representatives  a  law,  to 
be  passed  according  to  the  following  resolutions,  which  I 
copy  from  the  Journal  of  Congress  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  portraits  of  George  Washington  and 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  first  and  last  Presidents  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  be  executed  at  the  expense  of 
the  nation,  and  placed  on  the  walls  of  the  reception-room 
of  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Aifairs,  as  a  tribute  rendered  by 
the  Chilian  people  to  tl^se  of  the  United  States,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  happy  re-establishment  of  their  internal 
peace,  and  as  a  remembrance  of  the  sorrowful  loss  suffered 
in  the  death  of  their  first  magistrate. 

"  Resolved,  That  this  resolution  be  inscribed,  as  an  appro- 
priate motto,  at  the  foot  of  the  aforesaid  portraits,  and 
that  it  be  communicated  by  the  Government  of  Chili  to 
the  President  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States,  as  an  expression  of  the  sentiments 
of  tlie  Chilian  Congress." 

(Loud  and  prolonged  cheers.) 

Such  were  the  feelings,  the  ideas,  the -sympathies  of 
the  two  countries,   so  taking  every  one  by  surprise,  and 

2 


18 

the  whole  country  unarmed.  What  will  these  feel- 
ings be  in  the  future.  ?  Gentlemen,  that  is  a  question 
which  it  does  not  belong  to  me  to  answer.  There  is  a 
mighty  people  in  this  country,  there  is  a  Congress  replen- 
ished from  the  whole  intelligence  and  good  and  honest 
hearts  of  the  land,  there  is  a  noble-minded  President  fall 
of  confidence  in  the  will  of  his  fellow-citizens,  and  it  is 
for  them  to  answer  and  to  solve  such  a  question. 

But  I  observe  that  I  have  digressed  a  little  from  my 
original  plan  of  showing  you  the  present  condition  of 
Chili  and  its  prospects  for  the  future,  and  now  I  return 
again  fully  to  my  path. 

GOVERNMENT    AND    POLITICAL    INSTITUTIONS, 

Chili  having  won  her  independence,  with  the  best  blood 
of  her  sons,  devoted  herself  to  the  fruitful  labors  of 
peace  and  industry  ;  gave  herself  a  constitution  based  on 
the  general  principles  of  self-government,  with  a  President 
eligible  every  five  years,  with  a  House  of  Representatives 
returnable  every  three  years,  and  a  Senate  of  twenty 
members  to  be  elected  every  seven  years.  Every  com- 
munity of  twT.nty  thousand  inhabitants  is  entitled  to 
return  a  member  of  the  House,  and  the  Senators  are  elect- 
ed by  provinces.  The  President  governs,  with  a  responsi- 
ble Cabinet  of  four  Secretaries  and  a  Council  of  State, 
appointed  from  among  the  most  distinguished  persons  in 
the  community. 

Chili  is  perhaps  the  country  in  the  whole  world  least 
taxed,  90  cents  being  the  average  proportion  of  taxes 
among  all  classes  of  individuals  ;  and  yet  those  taxes  are 
voted  only  every  eighteen  months  by  Congress. 

The  duties  on  foreign  goods  tre  high  only  in  the  arti- 
cles of  luxury,  and  free  or  slightly  taxed  when  of  gene- 
ral use.  In  a  comparative  statement  of  the  duties  paid  in 
the  Custom-houses  of  France,  England,  the  United  States, 
and  Chili,  made  lately  by  the  eminent  French  economist, 
Courselles  de  Seneuil,  it  is  ascertained  that  the  latter  coun- 
try is  by  far  the  more  liberal.  It  is  owing,  probably,  to 
this  liberality  that  the  Custom-house  in  Valparaiso  pro- 
duced in  1863  $4,259,533. 

The  administration  of  justice  is  organized  very  much  on 

"the  same   footing  as  that  of  the  United  States,  .with  a 

Supreme  Court  at  its  head.     There  is,  nevertheless,  one 


19 

substantial  difference — the  Supreme  Court  of  Chili  has 
no  political  power  whatever,  and  all  the  members  of 
the  judicial  body  are  nominated  by  the  President^  for 
life.  In  a  particular  branch  of  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice, Chili  possesses,  it  seems  to  me,  a  great  advantage. — 
We  have  a  general  code  of  law  framed  on  the  plan  of  the 
Code  Napoleon,  and  especial  codes  of  commerce,  mines, 
legal  proceedings,  and  criminal  law.  All  have  been  pre- 
pared in  the  last  ten  years  by  eminent  lawyers  of  the 
country,  and  are  of  great  service  to  the  republic,  as  the 
law  is  put  within  the  reach  of  the  humblest  citizen. 

In  its  political  administration,  Chili  has  followed  the 
principles  of  France,  the  country  undoubtedly  best  govern- 
ed'^ as  far  as  the  official  machinery  of  power  works  on  the 
community.  There  is  in  existence  a  Board  of  Statistics, 
which  issues  a  report  on  the  progress  of  the  country  every  year 
and  makes  up  the  general  census  of  the  republic  every  ten 
years.  The  last  census  was  carried  out  all  over  the  country 
on  the  19th  of  last  April,  and  it  is  believed,  from  the  re- 
ports published,  that  the  actual  number  of  inhabitants 
will  be  approximatively  two  millions,  the  population 
doubling  every  forty  years. 

LAWS   ON    FOREIGNERS — EMIGRATION. 

The  laws  of  Chili  are  of  the  most  liberal  spirit  towards 
foreigners,  as  many  of  the  respectable  gentlemen  in  this 
hall  can  testify  by  their  own  personal  experience.  They 
are  permitted  to  do  whatever  the  natives  of  the  country 
have  a  right  to  do,  and  farther,  they  are  not  burdened 
with  any  personal  taxations  or  duties,  even  the  most  tri- 
vial. And  to  this  circumstance,  and  to  the  similitude  of 
climate,  products,  and  cultivation  with  the  nations  of 
Europe,  it  is  due  that  Chili  offers  such  splendid  prospects  to 
emigrants  of  all  races,  except  the  degraded  Asiatics,  which 
have  not  been  permitted  to  be  introduced  in  the  country 
by  the  new  slaveholders  of  the  Pacific,  the  importers  of 
miserable  colonies  of  Chinese,  or  the  coolies  of  the  South- 
ern Ocean. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Spain,  the  Govern- 
.   ment  was  preparing  the  establishment  of  a  Board  of  Emi- 
gration, on  similar  principles  with  those  existing  in  this 
country,  and  had  already  devoted  more  than  half  a  million 
of  acres  in  the  fertile  province  of  Llanquihuo  for  the  set- 


20 

tlement  of  foreign  emigrants.  There  are  living  now  in 
those  regions,  in  happy  condition,  more  than  two  thousand 
Germans.  According  to  the  census  of  1855,  there  were  in 
Chili  6,600  Germans,  1,247  English,  1,196  French,  only 
769  Spaniards,  and  571  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
ahout  20,100  foreigners  in  all.  But  in  ten  years  this 
nuraher  has  doubtless  been  doubled. 

There  is  another  consideration  of  importance  connected 
with  our  population.  There  do  not  exist  in  Chili  idle 
classes.  All  people  are  obliged  to  work  to  get  their  living, 
and  they  work  hard  indeed  in  the  deep  bottoms  of  the 
copper-mines  of  Atacama,  in  the  northern  extremity  of 
the  land,  and  in  the  inexhaustible  coal-fields  of  Lota  and 
Coronel,  which  by  their  extent  and  accessibility  are  not 
surpassed  by  any  in  England  or  France. 

THE  ARMY. 

At  the  same  time,  the  regular  army  of  Chili  is  compara- 
tively small,  and  is  kept  occupied  (as  was  yours  before 
the  war)  in  protecting  the  frontiers  against  the  invasion  of 
the  wild  Araucanian  Indians.  But  we  possess,  in  fact, 
a  national  army  of  more  than  80,000  men,  both  horse  and 
foot,  registered  on  our  military  roll,  and  which  could  take 
the  field,  as  they  have  already  done  in  some  measure,  at 
the  first  warning  of  the  country's  danger. 

CHARITIES. 

The  benevolent  institutions  of  the  country  are  worthy 
of  a  particular  study,  as  they  exhibit  the  general  disposi- 
tion of  the  Chilians  to  practice  the  virtues  of  hospitality. 
To  avoid,  however,  minute  explanation  on  this  subject,  I 
should  recommend  you  to  read  a  chapter  consecrated  to 
this  matter  by  Dr.  Baxlay,  a  well-meaning  traveler,  who 
visited  Chili  two  or  three  years  ago,  and  has  just  published 
an  interesting  book  on  South  America. 

PRINCIPLES  OF  SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

The  public  institutions  that  belong  properly  to  the 
organization  of  self-government,  work  in  Chili  with  as 
perfect  ease  as  is  exhibited  so  gloriously  in  this  country. 
The  rights  of  associations,  the  liberty  of  the  press,  the 


21 

irresponsibility  of  the  opinions  of  the  representatives  of 
the  country  in  Congress,  the  liberty  of  conscience,  that 
last  conquest  of  progress  and  justice,  the  trial  by  jury,  the 
privilege  of  habeas  corpus,  and,  in  fact,  all  the  modern 
liberties  and  franchises  of  democracy,  are  in  full  and  ac- 
tive operation  in  our  country. 

JOURNALS. 

I  might  as  well  add,  apropos  of  the  press,  that  although 
we  have  no  papers  so  interesting  as  those  of  New- York, 
we  nevertheless  publish  some  of  the  largest  and  best  ed- 
ited journals  of  South  America,  and  some  as  old  as  are 
printed  on  the  Southern  continent.  The  Valparaiso  Mer- 
cury, and  some  interesting  and  active  political  papers  as 
the  Ferrocarril  of  Santiago,  a  magnificent  journal  kept 
up  in  the  French  style  of  publication. 

This  is,  gentlemen,  the  general  condition  of  the  coun- 
try at  large,  but  there  are  yet  three  questions  to  which  I 
request  your  patient  attention  for  a  few  minutes,  as_  they 
are  the  foundation  of  the  actual  civilization  of  nations  ; 
first,  the  public  education  of  the  people  ;  second,^  the  ex- 
tent of  the  railroads,  and  third,  the  extent  of  its  com- 
merce and  interchanges  with  the  other  countries  of  the 
world. 

PUBLIC  EDUCATION. 

Chili  has  pursued  a  most  steady  course  in  educating  its 
own  people,  knowing  that  therein  consists  the  true  sup- 
port of  democracy  and  self-government.  Her  Institute  or 
University  of  Santiago,  is  considered  the  most  important 
of  South  America,  and  more  than  a  dozen  learned  Euro- 
pean professors  have  been  engaged  for  the  purpose  of 
spreading  the  knowledge  of  the  highest  branches  of  science. 
At  an  expense  of  more  than  $100,000  the  Chilian  Grov- 
ernment  maintains  an  Astronomical  Observatory,  the  only 
one  existing  in  the  Southern  hemisphere,  and  has  conse- 
quently done  great  service  to  modern  astronomy.  There 
existed  in  1862,  the  last  epoch  of  the  official  statistics 
now  in  my  power,  5,792  students  of  professional  careers, 
most  of  them  in  the  National  Institute  of  Santiago,  and 
in  the  provincial  lyceums — every  i)rovince  having  an 
institution  of  this  kind  for  herself.  In  1810,  in  tlio  good 
old  times  of  mother  Spain,  there  existed  only  two  public 


22 

schools  in  the  kingdom,  and  in  1SG2  this  number  had  in- 
creased to  933.  Of  these  588  belonged  to  the  male  sex, 
and  345  to  the  female,  being  23,563  of  the  first,  and  12,- 
412  of  the  last — 35,975  in  all  of  persons  educated  at  the 
expense  of  the  State.  Chili  devotes  one-tenth  of  its  rev- 
enue to  public  instruction — [long  applause] — and  there 
existed  a  President  who  was  elected  in  1851,  having  adopt- 
ed as  the  platform  of  his  canvassing  this  single  principle, 
"  Popular  education"     [Loud  cheers  ] 

RAILWAYS. 

In  the  progress  of  steam  locomotion  Chili  stands  so 
high  that  you  will  be  surprised  on  hearing  that  only  four 
countries — the  United  States,  England,  France,  and  G-er- 
many — possess  greater  extent  of  railroad,  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  size  of  the  respective  countries.  Chili  pos- 
sesses at  present  six  main  lines  of  railways. 

The  northern  one  connects  the  port  of  Caldera  with  the 
silver  regions  of  Copiapo,  and  was  the  first  ever  built  in 
South  America  (1850,)  previous  to  the  erection  of  the  line 
of  Panama,  which  has,  like  the  last,  an  extent  of  forty- 
seven  miles.  The  second  is  that  of  Carrizal,  twenty-four 
miles  in  length.  It  has  been  built  by  Americans  and  na- 
tive capitalists  for  bringing  to  the  sea-shore  the  rich  cop- 
per ores  of  the  interior. 

The  third  is  much  more  important,  as  it  runs  south 
from  La  Serena,  the  capital  of  Coquimbo,  and  is  intended 
to  connect  with  that  between  Valparaiso  and  Santiago,  a 
distance  of  about  five  hundred  miles  south.  Of  this  line 
ninety  miles  are  complete,  and  as  many  in  course  of  pro- 
gi'ess. 

The  fourth  is  the  famous  railway  between  Valparaiso 
and  Santiago,  over  immense  mountains,  built  at  an  ex- 
pense of  twelve  millions  of  dollars.  It  was  laid  out  by 
the  eminent  American  civil  engineer,  Allen  Campbell, 
now  residing  in  this  city  in  a  very  high  position,  and  com- 
pleted, as  a  contractor,  by  another  American  of  great  en- 
terprise, and  generous  heart,  Henry  Meiggs.  This  line 
extends  for  more  than  135  miles  over  a  rough  country, 
and  is  considered  a  work  inferior  to  none  for  its  boldness 
and  solidity. 

The  fifth  line  extends  from  Santiago,  through  the  in- 
land valleys  and  over  level  ground,  to  San  Fernando,  a 


23 

distance  equal  to  that  between  Valparaiso  and  Santiago, 
but,  passino:  througli  a  highly  cultivated  plain,  it  has  cost 
only  half  the  amount  of  the  last,  A  distinguished  Am- 
erican engineer.  Col.  Walter  W.  Evans,  now  of  this  city, 
was  the  builder  of  this  railway.  And  as  in  passing  I  men- 
tioned the  names  of  some  Americans  prominent  among  us, 
let  me  pay  a  tribute  of  respect  and  affection  to  a  noble  and 
intelligent  man,  a  real  embodiment  of  the  most  character- 
istic qualities  of  the  American  people — to  Hon.  Thomas 
Horace  Nelson — the  last  Minister  of  the  United  States  in 
Chili,  and  who  has  gained^ the  sincere  affection  of  my  coun- 
trymen, both  by  his  personal  and  official  attainments. 

Lately,  grants  for  four  new  branches  of  raih"oads  were 
made  by  the  Legislature,  and  the  line  going  southward 
from  Santiago  will  be  extended  this  summer  to  Curico, 
at  an  expense  of  nearly  $1,500,000. 

The  purpose  of  the  government  is  to  build  a  central  line 
between  Santiago  and  Concepcion,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Biobio,  a  distance  of  about  600  miles,  of  which,  there  are 
150  completed,  the  whole  of  the  country  having  been  care- 
fully surveyed.  The  actual  value  of  the  railways  of  the 
country,  which  measure  nearly  500  miles,  is  $30,000,000, 
and  it  is  thought  that  an  the  expense  of  less  than  that 
amount,  a  complete  line  of  rails  will  be  run  from  La 
Serena  to  Concepcion,  (a  distance  of  more  than  1,000 
miles,)  and  all  within  the  course  of  ten  or  fifteen  years. 

When  this  great  work,«to  which  the  country  and  Con- 
gress have  lent  their  utmost  support  is  completed,  Chili 
cannot  but  be  the  best  organized  and  best  protected 
against  internal  or  foreign  foes  of  all  other  countries. 
Lines  of  telegraph  run  parallel  to  all  the  railways,  and  the 
very  day  war  was  daclared  against  Spain  orders  were  givea 
to  extend  the  magnetic  wire  from  the  northern  to  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  country,  which  work  has  been 
undertaken  with  unabated  energy.  And  that,  gentlemen, 
has  been  the  answer  of  the  country  to  the  piratical  assault 
of  the  Spanish  Admiral.  He  wished  to  put  a  gag  in  our 
mouths  by  shutting  the  doors  of  the  country,  and  tlie  coun- 
try has  used  the  inextinguishable  voice  of  steam  and  elec- 
tricity to  carry  all  over  the  land  her  will,  her  dignity,  and 
the  resolution  of  opposing  Spain  to  the  last  breath  of  life. 
(Applause.) 


24 

COMMERCE, 

I  wish  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  the  thinking  men, 
who  have  honored  me  by  listening  to  this  long  and  weari- 
Bome  lecture,  the  importance  of  the  commerce  of  Chili,  in 
order  to  show  how  little  has  been  done  b}^  the  American 
people,  and,  I  must  say,  by  the  American  Government,  to 
develop  the  interests  of  this  nation  in  those  far  but  rich 
countries.  The  value  of  goods  imported  into  Chili  in  1864, 
according  to  official  statistics,  was  ^18,867,363  ;  and  would 
any  of  you  believe  that  in  this  commerce,  of  which  you 
might  have  as  good  a  share  as  any  other  nation,  England 
is  represented  by  forty- three  per  cent.,  while  the  enter- 
prising, the  prosperous  and  active  people  of  the  United 
States,  with  their  enormous,  crowded,  and  countless  man- 
ufactures, stand  only  in  the  proportion  of  five  per  cent  ? 
But  that  is  a  fact,  according  to  late  official  returns,  and  I 
may  add,  as  far  as  my  personal  knowledge  goes,  that  there 
exist  in  Valparaiso,  among  hundreds  of  large  European 
houses  of  commerce,  only  three  American  firms — that  of 
the  old  and  respectable  house  of  Alsop  &  Co.,  and  those 
of  A.  Hemenway  &  Co.  and  Loring  &  Co. 

The  exports  of  Chili  last  year  were  to  the  value  of 
$27,242,853,  leaving  in  our  favor  a  balance  in  trade  of 
more  than  $8,000,000. 

The  internal  commerce  of  the  country,  which  is  free  to 
all  flags  (hear,  hear,)  amounted  to  $28,896,783,  being  an 
increase  of  $12,199,862  over  that  of  1861,  and  reaching 
in  its  whole  extent,  and  without  taking  into  consideration 
the  commerce  in  transit  to  the  Argentine  Republic,  Boli- 
via, and  Peru,  which  amount  to  many  millions,  the  sum 
of  $75,005,000. 

FINANCES. 

The  public  revenue  of  the  present  year  was  calculated 
before  the  war  at  $10,000,000,  and  as  the  foreign  debt  of 
the  Government,  always  faithfully  paid,  is  less  than 
$8,000,000,  it  can  be  said  that  no  country  is  in  better  con- 
dition as  to  finance.  Now,  if  we  take  into  consideration 
that  the  nation  owns  more  than  half  the  railways,  and  is 
free  to  sell  that  part  to  individuals,  it  could  further  be 
said  that  Chili  has  no  foreign  debt  whatever.  I  think  it 
necessary  to  add  that  paper  was  there  unknown  as  official 
currency.     But  lately  war  has  obliged  the  banks  to  make 


25 

a  paper  issue  of  $4,000,000,  guaranteed,  nevertheless,  by 
more  than  twenty  millions  of  coin  and  other  securities. — 
We  have  been  obliged,  at  the  same  time,  to  raise  in  Eng- 
land a  loan,  of  six  millions  of  dollars  for  war  purposes, 
and  an  equal  amount  of  money  was  to  be  collected  in  the 
country. 

Such,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  were  the  conditions  and 
prospects  of  Chili  when  a  man,  whose  name  the  world  had 
never  heard  before,  came  one  morning,  surprising  our  good 
faith,  and  taking  cowardly  and  villainous  advantage  of  the 
defenceless  condition  of  our  shores,  to  stop  that  marvelous 
march  of  progress,  and  overthrow  in  a  minute  the  work  of 
so  many  years  of  patient  industry  and  honesty. 

THE    WAR    WITH    SPAIN. 

One  word  more  upon  tlie  qjuestion  of  this  war,  and  I 
have  done. 

Who  understands  the  causes  of  this  war  between  Chili 
and  Spain  ?  I  think  nobody,  not  even  myself,  as  there 
never  was  in  the  history  of  nations  a  war  so  groundless 
and  ridiculous  as  this  is  on  the  part  of  Spain. 

But  as  the  causes  of  this  difficulty  have  never  been  pro- 
perly understood,  and  as  the  day  before  yesterday  one  of 
the  leading  and  most  influential  papers  of  this  city  ex- 
pressed a  wish  that  no  sympathy  should  be  bestowed  upon 
us,  on  the  ground  that  the  facts  were  not  yet  fully  known, 
I  will  endeavor  to  put  them  before  you  in  their  full  light, 
begging  of  you  one  moment  more  of  patience. 

On  the  24tli  of  April,  1863,  a  day  of  sad  record  for 
America,  both  North  and  South,  Admiral  Pinzon,  on  the 
})art  of  Spain,  seized  the  Chincha  Islands,  belonging  to 
Peru,  and  declared  in  a  public  manifesto  that  in  doing  so 
he  revindicated  the  property  of  Spain,  as  there  ivas  only 
a  state  of  truce  with  Peru  since  the  truce  of  Ayacucho  in 
1824. 

At  such  an  extraordinary  avowal,  the  whole  of  South 
America  rose  in  alarm,  and  stood  like  a  single  man  by  the 
side  of  their  attacked  brother.  They  acted,  it  is  true,  in 
their  own  behalf  at  the  same  time,  as  they  might  also  be 
"  revindicated  at  any  moment,  especially  Chili,  the  nearest 
neighbor  of  the  invaded  country,  and  the  people  who  had 
twice  stood  by  Peru  in  her  fight  for  liberty,  the  cause  of 
the  two  countries  being  one. 


26 

A  warm  feeling  of  sympathy  was  consequently  awaken- 
ed in  Chili  in  favor  of  Peru.  The  press  violently  attacked 
Spain ;  volunteers  went  over  to  Peru  ;  and  coal  was  de- 
clared contraband  of  war  for  both  parties,  as  it  was  im- 
possible to  provide  with  means  of  attack  the  very  enemy 
that  was  preying  like  a  highway  robber  on  our  coast. 
And  I  ask  you,  gentlemen,  what  country  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth  would  have  acted  otherwise?  Would  you? 
Would  you  restrain  your  press  on  the  affairs  of  Mexico, 
and  deny  your  sympathies  for  the  institutions  and  the 
men  of  a  country  which  in  some  respects  forms  a  part  of. 
your  own  ?  Besides,  as  I  had  occasion  to  develop  fully, 
at  an  address  I  delivered  a  few  days  ago  at  Panama, 
and  which  many  of  you  probably  read  in  the  New  York 
Herald  of  last  week,  there  was  no  ground  whatever,  in 
the  presence  of  the  most  stringent  principles  of  interna- 
tional law,  not  only  for  a  war,  but  even  for  a  diplomatic 
rupture. 

PERU    TO    STAND    BY    CHILI    IN    WAR    ALLIANCE. 

But  as  only  a  pretext  was  needed,  as  soon  as  the  diflS- 
culty  between  Spain  and  Peru  was  settled  in  such  a  dis- 
graceful mannerj  that  the  whole  country  rose  against  the 
traitors  with  the  blush  in  their  face,  Pareja  undertook  to 
ask  explanations  of  our  Government  for  the  legitimate  acts 
and  for  the  innocent  sympathies  shown  to  our  suffering 
brothers.  And  let  me  pause  a  moment  in  my  narrative, 
to  inform  you,  in  the  joy  of  my  heart,  that  the  noble 
revolution  of  Peru  triuuiphed  by  its  national  force  with 
little  bloodshed,  at  the  gates  of  Lima,  on  the  5th  of  Nov- 
ember last,  as  we  have  just  heard  by  the  steamer  arrived 
this  evening  from  Aspinwall. 

Thanks  to  God,  there  are  no  more  traitors  in  America  ; 
•and  I  take  upon  myself  to  declare,  as  a  friend  of  Generals 
Canseco  and  Prado,  the  President  and  the  leader  of  that 
glorious  protest  against  Spain,  that  Peru  will  now  stretch 
out  to  Chili  the  hand  of  a  brother,  and  repay  the  sacrifices 
to  her  cause.  Yes,  gentlemen,  I  feel  authorized  to  declare 
in  this  responsible  place,  that  the  new  Government  of 
Peru  is  hound  by  the  most  solemn  pledges  of  nations  to 
declare  tear,  immediate  and  active  war,  against  Spain. 
Such  is  the  fact  at  this  very  hour,  and  you  may  rely 
upon  it,  as  I  come  to  this  country  from  the  head-quarters 


27 

of  the  Peruvian  army  and  revolutionary  fleet.  I  beg  to 
add  that  the  Express  of  to-day  makes  a  very  singular 
mistake  in  declaring  that  the  new  Government  of  Peru 
comes  back  on  a  Spanish  platform^  when  the  very  reverse 
is  the  fiict,  as  the  revolution  sprang  out  of  the  infamous 
conduct  of  the  last  government  of  Ex-Gren.  Pezet,  a 
traitor,  like  Santana  and  Almonte,  to  the  noble  cause  of 
America. 

The  asking  of  explanations  from  our  government  by 
Pareja,  was  in  itself  an  act  of  insult  on  the  part  t)f  the 
agent  of  Spain,  as  we  were  the  party  offended.  But  the 
Chilian  Government,  giving  a  proof  of  its  prudence  and 
forbearance,  gave  the  explanations  required,  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  claimant  declared  himself  in  a  public  dis- 
patch, and  in  beualf  of  his  government,  entirely  satisfied. 

That  event  took  place  in  May  last,  and  both  the  coun- 
try and  the  government  had  entirely  forgotten  the  past 
question,  when  suddenly,  on  the  morning  of  the  12tli  of 
September,  a  small  steamer  chartered  by  our  Minister  in 
Lima,  cast  her  anchor  in  Valparaiso,  bearing  extraordinary 
news.  The  Government  of  Spain  had  declared  insufficient 
the  satisfaction  accepted  as  fully  satisfactory  by  her  public 
representative  had  recalled  him  in  disgrace,  and  ordered 
Pareja  (the  secret  abettor  of  the  plot,)  to  go  with  the 
whole  of  his  fleet  to  impose  upon  us  the  shame  of  humili- 
ating our  honor  and  our  flag  to  the  guns  of  his  ships. 
This  course  was  made  yet  more  insolent,  as  we  know  that 
Pareja  and  half  a  dozen  intriguing  and  lawless  men 
surrounding  him,  had  been  the  active  agents  for  obtaining 
from  the  Spanish  Government  the  authorization  of  their  vil- 
lainous attack  upon  Chili.  Pareja  was  so  proud  with  his 
old  frigates,  and  particularly  as  we  had  none  at  that  time, 
that  he  wrote  to  his  beloved  Queen  that  in  less  than  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  he  would  settle  the  difiiculty  with  lit- 
tle Chili. 

But  the  poor  old  Admiral  was  miserably  mistaken.  At 
the  very  moment  of  his  appearance  in  the  bay  of  Valpa- 
raiso, the  country — as  a  single  thought,  as  a  single  soul, 
as  a  single  arm — roused  itself  to  the  support  of  the 
government,  and  offered  life  and  property  to  maintain 
its  honor,  so  infamously  and  cowardly  assailed.  Conse- 
quently, the  very  day  that  Pareja  declared  the  block- 
ade, and  took  violent  possession  of  a  few  of  our  merchant 
ships,  who  had  not  yet  changed  their  flags,  both  Houses 


28 

of  Congress  met  spontaneously  on  the  24th  of  September. 
War  was  declared  immediately  against  Spain  by  the 
unanimous  vote  of  all  present  ;  the  government  was  au- 
thorized to  raise  a  loan  of  $20,000,000  ;  to  call  to  arms 
whatever  troops  deemed  necessary  ;  to  increase,  or,  more 
properly  speaking,  create  a  navy  by  all  means  available, 
and  cqirry  immediate  and  active  hostilities  against  the  in- 
solent invaders. 

And  now,  gentlemen,  I  ask  you  candidly  and  honestly, 
would  you,  could  you,  as  members  of  an  independent  and 
free  country,  have  done  otherwise  ?     [Cries  of  no,  no.] 

CHILI  NOTHING  TO  LOOSE  BY  A  WAR  WITH  SPAIN. 

So  the  war  with  Spain  is  one  of  honor  for  us,  as  it  is  a 
ridiculous  and  purposeless  ostentation  of  power  and  pride  on 
the  part  of  Spain.  The  English  people,  excited  undoubt- 
edly by  their  great  interest  in  the  Pacific,  have  understood 
nevertheless  the  real  position,  the  origin,  and  the  conse- 
quences of  this  singular  and  almost  enigmatical  case,  and 
have  severely  condemned  Spain.  It  is  for  you  now  to  give 
utterance  to  your  opinion,  and  support  it  in  the  interest 
of  your  ideas  and  of  the  old  principles  of  your  glorious 
republic. 

But  allow  me  to  say,  before  I  close  these  last  observations, 
that  although  we  regret,  as  a  civilized  country,  this  war 
having  originated  in  such  extravagant  jiretexts,  we  are  not 
in  the  least  afraid  of  it.  Far  from  that.  We  have  n.  his- 
tory and  glorious  forefathers  who  taught  us  how  to  fight 
and  how  to  conquer.  [Applause.]  We  have  a  respect- 
able and  respected  position  among  the  nations  of  the 
world,  and  that  respect  is  not  commanded  by  armies  or 
fleets,  but  by  our  institutions,  our  credit  as  a  commer- 
cial country,  and  our  wealth,  superior  to  many  of  the  old 
monarchies  of  Europe,  and  certainly  to  that  of  maraud- 
ing and  bankrupt  Spain.  And  then,  gentlemen,  war 
with  all  its  horrors  and  its  calamities,  possesses  great 
advantages  for  new  countries.  We  have  nothing  to  loose 
by  the  hate  of  Spain,  and  something  to  gain  by  it.  We 
are  not  indebted  to  Spain  in  Chili  for  a  single  man  of  en- 
terprise, for  a  single  cent  of  capital,  for  any  importation 
of  industry.  England  appears  in  our  commercial  section, 
as  I  have  already  stated,  as  importer  in  the  proportion  of 
43  per  cent.     France  20  per  cent.,  Germany  9  per  cent.. 


29 

the  United  States  5  per  cent.,  Peru  and  Brazil  3  per 
cent..  ;  but  Spain/or  nothing  at  all!  (Laughter.)  There 
are,  too,  in  Chili,  at  present,  seven  hundred  Spaniards  in 
all,  but  all  belonging  to  the  classes  of  little  traders  ;  none 
to  the  liberal  or  even  most  humble  professions. 

And  I  may  be  allowed  to  repeat,  without  paying 
attention  to  local  considerations,  new-born  countries 
require  to  be  at  once  known  in  the  great  fair  of  the 
world.  You  were  once  only  a  small  nation,  and  had  not 
a  defender  among  the  great  peoples  of  the  globe,  until  you, 
young  and  inexperienced,  but  full  of  daring  with  the 
righteousness  of  your  cause,  went  to  war  with  England  in 
1812.  You  came  great  and  powerful  out  of  that  struggle, 
and  so  we  expect  to  come  out  of  ours,  against  our  fast- 
decaying  mother  country.  And  mind  it,  gentlemen,  we 
are  ready  to  go  to  that  war  at  our  own  risk,  with  our  own 
blood,  with  our  own  money,  without  asking  any  other  na- 
tion's material  help  or  entangling  alliances.  What  we 
want  is  merely  justice,  the  full  appreciation  of  our  dignity 
and  of  our  rights,  so  that  it  may  not  be  said  that  we 
entered  into  this  war  through  contemptible  notions  of  pride 
and  vanity,  but  for  the  sake  of  our  present  existence,  our 
future  destinies  as  a  nation,  commanding  the  respect  and 
the  sympathies  of  the  civilized  world. 

And  now,  ladies  and  gentlemen, there  remains  for  me  only 
the  pleasant  duty  of  ofiFering  you  my  most  sincere  and 
earnest  thanks  for  the  kindness  shown  to  me  on  this  occa- 
sion, and  I  do  so  with  a  grateful  heart.     (Long  applause.) 

After  the  lecture,  Mr.  E.  George  Squier  moved  a  vote  of 
thanks  to  the  lecturer,  in  a  few  complimentary  remarks, 
which  motion  was  seconded  by  Mr.  James  S.  Mackie  in  a 
brief  but  happy  speech,  and  carried  with  signal  enthu- 
siasm. 


Among  several  judgments  registered  by  the  daily  papers 
of  New  York  upon  the  present  lecture,  we  consider  it  be- 
coming to  our  purpose  to  reprint  the  following  leading  ar- 
ticle of  the  Evening  Post  of  December  the  12th,  and 
which  relates  to  the  commerce  between  Chili  and  the 
United  States  : 


30 

Seuor  McKenna,  special  agent  of  the  Chilian  government 
in  this  country,  gave  a  few  days  ago  an  excellent  account 
of  his  country,  in  which  he  related  much  that  was  new  to 
his  hearers  and  to  the  general  public,  and  which  is  at  the 
same  time  of  great  interest  and  importance  to  Americans. 

After  pointing  out  the  fact  that  Chili  has  distinct  na- 
tural boundaries  in  the  Andes,  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the 
great  desert  of  Atacama,  and  the  savage  plains  of  Pata- 
gonia ;  and  that  it  possesses  a  homogeneous  population,  a 
various  but  temperate  climate,  an  immense  coast  line  con- 
taining hundreds  of  ports  and  bays,  which  make  access  to 
the  interior  easy,  a  fertile  agricultural  region,  which  en- 
ables the  nation  to  export  breadstulfs,  and  mineral  resour- 
ces 60  rich  that,  besides  coal,  silver  and  gold,  half  the 
copper  produced  in  the  whole  world,  annually,  is  mined  in 
Chili.  Mr.  McKenna  described  the  social  and  political 
condition  of  his  country.  Chili  has  two  millions  of  peo- 
ple, who  form  a  republic,  in  which  a  president  is  elected 
every  five  years,  while  the  popular  branch  of  the  Congress 
is  chosen  every  three  years,  and  the  Senate  for  seven  years. 
Taxation  is  trifling,  the  custom  duties  are  light,  and  im- 
posed only  on  articles  of  luxury;  one- tenth  of  the  whole 
revenue  of  the  state  is  devoted  to  public  instruction;  and 
in  1862  there  were  nine  hundred  and  thirty-three  free 
schools  in  the  country,  besides  a  university  at  Santiago, 
the  most  important  in  South  America,  and  colleges  in  the 
different  provinces. 

Finally,  lands  are  cheap,  the  climate  is  fine,  the  natural 
products  various,  the  feeling  towards  foreigners  very  liberal, 
the  undeveloped  wealth  immense,  the  railroads  of  the 
country  so  extended  that  Chili  is  excelled  in  this  regard 
only  by  the  United  States,  England,  France  and  Germany, 
and  t,he  people  are  very  favorably  predisposed  towards  the 
United  States. 

Yet  with  this  country,  whose  people  are  so  friendly  to 
us,  whose  institutions  are  so  similar  to  ours,  who  seem  to 
be  progressing  in  the  same  direction  with  ourselves,  and 
who  feel  themselves  to  have  the  same  interests  with  us, 
our  comercial  intercourse  is  so  ridiculously  small  that 
Americans  will  blush  when  the  figures  are  told.  M.  Mc- 
Kenna said  : 

'  Th'e  value  of  goods  imported  into  Chili  in  1864,  ac- 
cording to  official  statistics,  was  $18,867,363;  and  would 
any  of  you  believe  that  in  this  commerce,  of  which  you 


31 

mijT;lit  liave  Jis  good  a  share  as  any  other  nation,  while 
England  is  represented  by  forty-thi-ee  per  cent,  the  enter- 
prising:, the  prosperous  anH'  aclive  people  of  the  United 
States,  with  their  enormous  and  crowded  and,  countless 
manufactures,  stand  only  in  the  proportion  of  live  per 
ce^?  But  that  is  a  fact,  according  to  late  official  re- 
turns,  and  I  may  add,  as  far  as  my  personal  knowledge 
goes,  that  there  exists  in  Valparaiso,  amfnp;  knnflrPfTanf 
large  European  houses  of  commerce,\only  three  American 

firms.'  X,^ — ""^     ^- 

/  England  has  forty-three  per  cent  of  the  trade  with  Chili,^ 
/France  has  twenty  per  cent,  Germany  without  a  fleet,  and 
^  with  only  a  few  ports,  has  yet  nine  per  cent,  the  United 
States,  with  California  and  Oregon  lying  on  the  same 
ocean,  has  got  only  five  per  cent,  but  little  more  than  Bra- 
\^il,  which  has  three  per  cent. 
'>  But  if  our  commerce  with  Chili  is  small,  it  is  no  greater 
with  others  of  the  South  American  republics.  We  seem 
to  have  neglected  those  states,  whose  prosperity  and  pro- 
gress nevertheless  are  of  great  importance  to  us.  Under 
the  rule  of  the  slave-lords,  our  attitude  towards  them  was 
made  purposely  hostile;  the  slave-holders  did  not  care  for 
legitimate  commerce;  they  thought  only  of  filbustering  ex- 
peditions, of  snatching  the  land  of  our  neighbor  republics 
to  devote  it  to  slavery.  But  with  the  new  spirit  which 
animates  our  policy,  our  intercourse  with  other  American, 
republics  should  largely  increase,  our  relations  must  become 
more  intimate,  and  we  shall  no  doubt  presently  recognise 
our  duty  towards  them,  to  guard  them,  by  our  alliance, 
from  such  wanton  attacks  as  that  of  Spain  upon  Chili, 
and  that  of  France  against  Mexico. 

True  statesmanship  would  bind  together  all  the  republics 
of  America  in  a  common  brotherhood;  thus  only  can  our 
example  have  its  proper  influence  upon  our  neighbors,  and 
thus  only  can  those  weaker  states  be  saved  from  the  attacks 
of  despotic  European  powers — attacks  which  are  as  much 
directed  against  us  as  against  our  neighbors,  for  they  arise 
out  of  hostility  to  the  republican  institutions  of  which  wo 
are  the  upholders,  Mexico  no  sooner  begins  to  show  signs 
of  the  triumph  of  order,  intelligence,  and  constitutional 
forms,  than  Napoleon  makes  war  on  the  republic,  forcibly 
sets  up  a  despotic  emperor  in  place  of  the  constitutional 
government,  involves  the  Mexican  people  in  financial  ruin, 
interrupts  industry,  vastly  increases  the  national  debt,  re- 


32 

establishes  peonage,  and  overturns  all  that  had  been  ac- 
complished by  the  adherents  of  lawful  liberty  in  Mexico 
in  a  quarter  of  a  century.  So  Spain  wantonly  attacks 
Chili,  puts  the  people  of  the  republic  to  the  expense  of  de- 
fending themselves,  and  thus  retards  the  industrial  de- 
velopment of  that  free  nation.  Thus,  too,  she  intrigues 
in  Peru,  ostensibly  to  "revindicate"  obsolete  rights  and 
claims,  while  her  real  object  is  to  keep  that  growing  repub- 
lic in  turmoil,  to  foster  the  spirit  of  factions,  and  to 
overturn  and  destroy  the  beneficial  results  of  free  govern- 
ment. It  is  alike  our  duty  and  our  interest  to  put  a  stop 
to  these  invasions  of  America  by  European  despots." 


ADDEESS  DELIVEEED  m  PANAMA 
On  the  origin  and  Character  of  the 

WAR  BETWEEN  CHILI  &  SPAIN, 

In  acordancs  with  the  following  Act,  which  we  copy 

from  the  Mercantile  Chronicle  of  Panama, 

of  December  12th,  1865. 


AN    ACT, 

In  the  city  of  Panama,  on  the  8th  of  November,  1865, 
a  large  number  of  Columbians,  resident  in  this  Capital, 
assembled  in  the  porticos  of  the  Cabildo  House,  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  into  consideration  the  attitude  which  this 
country  ought  to  assume  in  the  contention  which  has 
arisen  between  Chili  and  Spain  ;  Senores  Manuel  Maria 
Diaz  and  Pablo  Arosemena  being  named  respectively  Pre- 
sident and  Secretary  of  the  meeting  ;  and  the  former  hav- 
ing stated  in  a  fitting  and  well-applauded  speech  the  ob- 
ject of  the  reunion,  the  latter  made  the  following  proposi- 
tions, which  were  unanimously  approved: 

1st — The  Ptepublic  of  Chili,  in  the  unjust  war  to  which 
she  has  been  provoked  by  the  agents  of  Spain  in  the  Paci- 
fic, deserves  the  sympathies  and  aid  of  republican  America. 

2d — Consequently,  the  persons  who  compose  this  meet- 
ing consider  it  an  inevitable  duty  to  aid  the  sacred  cause 
of  Chili  by  all  the  lawful  means  within  their  reach. 

3rd — Let  a  commission  of  three  persons  be  named,  who 

o 


34 

shall  take  charge  of  setting  forth  the  plan  that  ought  to 
be  adopted  to  secure  so  great  an  end. 

By  virtue  of  the  will  of  the  meeting,  the  President  ap- 
pointed Senores  Gabriel  Obarrio,  Pablo  Aroseraena,  and 
Mariano  Arosemena  to  compose  the  said  commission. 

The  President,  on  behalf  of  those  assembled,  then  in- 
vited Senor  Benjamin  Vicuna  Mackenna,  who  was  present, 
to  address  the  meeting,  to  which  that  gentleman  responded 
in  tne  following  words,  which  we  translate  from  the  Spa- 
nish : 

Sr.  Vicuna  Mackenna,  said  :  Gentlemen,  although 
I  am  in  this  city  nothing  more  than  a  simple  citizen 
of  the  Kepublic  of  Chile,  I  cannot  do  less  than  rise  to 
respond  to  the  amiable  invitation  of  the  President  of  this 
noble  and  patriotic  meeting,  and  offer  you  my  profound 
gratitude  for  the  manifestation  you  have  made  in  behalf 
of  my  country,  I  cherish  the  deep  conviction  that  the 
generous  resolutions  which  you  have  adopted  will  resound 
as  an  echo  of  fraternity  in  the  hearts  of  all  my  countrymen, 
who  are  also  yours,  because,  gentlemen,  if  in  the  days  of 
peace  we  have  the  right  to  call  ourselves  friends  and  na- 
tural allies,  in  the  hour  of  danger  we  are  nothing  less 
than  brothers.  Your  noble  conduct  is  proving  this.  [Cries 
of  Yes  !  Yes  ! )  I  did  not  wish,  gentlemen,  to  pass 
beyond  this  simple  expression  of  my  personal  gratitude 
towards  you.  It  was  my  desire  to  assist  at  this  splendid 
reunion  in  the  character  of  a  mere  sojourner  on  the 
Isthmus,  and  though  it  be  indeed  true  that  I  have 
been  honored  by  my  government  with  an  important  politi- 
cal commission,  this  does  not  give  me  diplomatic  cha- 
racter to  impart  a  determinate  importance  to  my 
words.  Nevertheless,  on  finding  myself  in  the  midst  of 
you,  and  on  listening  to  your  ovations  to  my  country,  these 
two  questions  have  occured  to  me,  which  I  also  address  to 
you.  Why  does  Spain  make  war  on  Chile  .^  Is  this  war 
against  Chile  only,  or  is  it  against  all  America  ?  Why 
does  Spain  make  war  against  Chile  ?  Ah  !  You  well 
know,  gentlemen.  Spain  makes  war  against  my  country 
because  she  presented  herself  to  sustain  the  honor  and 
dio-nity  of  America,    without  any  other  advice,  without 


35 

any  other  authority  than  her  own  disunity  :  — (Applause) 
— because  she  made  out  of  the  attack  on  the  Chinchas  a 
personal  and  common  honor,  of  immediate  security,  of 
future  independence  for  herself — for  all  the  sister  republics 
of  the  New  World  ;  because,  in  fine,  she  was  the  first 
among  them  in  ofi'ering  herself,  a  noble  holocaust,  to  a 
disinterested  patriotism — to  an  abnegation  without  condi- 
tions, (True!  and  vehement  applause  for  Chile.)  But 
Chile,  gentlemen,  could  not  act  in  any  other  manner. 
Could  she  break  the  traditions  of  her  glorious  past,  which 
present  her  as  always  associated  with  all  the  sacrifices  antl 
with  all  the  ancient  American  glories,  in  which  her  banner 
had  floated  in  the  breeze  of  battle  together  with  the  ban- 
ner of  La  Plata  ;  together  with  the  banner  of  Peru  ;  to- 
gether with  the  banner  of  old  and  glorious  Columbia, 
from  Maipii  to  Pichincha  ?  Could  Chile  forget  that 
the  moderate  prestige  which  she  has  cultivated  among 
her  sisters  on  the  Continent  she  owes  only  to  her  inter- 
national policy,  always  just  and  honorable,  always  frater- 
nal in  council,  always  disinterested  in  aid,  always  intrepid 
— permit  me  this  word  of  patriotic  pride — always  intrepid 
in  her  undertakings  in  common  with  them  ?  Could  Chile, 
in  fine,  shelter  herself  under  a  cowardly  silence,  and  hiding 
her  noble  head — her  more  noble  heart — as  in  a  state  of 
stupid  torpidity,  between  her  sea  and  her  mountains, 
avail  herself  of  the  impunity  which  her  natural  posi- 
tion might  seem  to  offer  to  her  selfishness,  and  abandon 
thus  a  brother  wounded  so  deeply,  without  asking  for 
him  and  with  him  the  reparation  due  ?  No,  Chile  could 
have  done  nothing  like  what  would  have  been  her  dis- 
grace, and  consequently  she  placed  herself  from  the  first 
moment  on  the  weaker  side, — on  the  side  of  the  injured, 
the  neighbor,  the  brother.  (Applause.)  But  was  there 
by  chance  in  this  a  violation  of  any  international  right  ? 
Was  a  public  motive  given  to  Spain  for  complaint, 
for  secret  grievance — pretext  even,  I  will  not  say  for  this 
war,  which  will  always  seem  a  madness  in  the  eyes  of 
enlightened  nations,  but  for  a  diplomatic  rupture  which  is 
the  utmost  limit  to  which  nations,  in  the  present  condition 
of  public  right,  are  accustomed  to  go,  in  manifesting  their 
mutual  dissatisfaction  ?  With  my  hand  placed  upon  my 
heart,  I  declare  that  no  public  nor  private  act  took 
place  in  Chile  that  should  bring  upon  her  the  animadver- 


36 

sion  of  Spain,     There  are,    to    respond  for  my  veracity, 
those  noble  and  patriotic  notes  of  the  cabinet  of  Santiago, 
which  reduce  to  mere  dust  every  fictitious  circumstance 
of  recrimination  which  had  been  raised  against  Chile  by 
the  mischievous   emissaries  of  SjDain.     There  is  not  iu 
them  a  single  charge  which  has  not  been  dispelled.   There 
is  not  a  single  accusation  which  has  not  been  confronted 
and  confounded  as  an  error  or  as  an  imposture.     There  is 
not  a  single  affront  which  has  not  been  answered  with  the 
noble  dignity  of  right  and  moderation.  (Vehement  acclam- 
mations    of  "  Long  live  Chile" — "Long   live    President 
Perez  " — "  Long  live  the  Covarrubias  Ministry.")     Bat, 
gentlemen,  when  the  world  pronounces  as  you  do  between 
Chile  and  Spain,  it  is  evident  that  the  former  gains  al- 
ready half  of  the  contest.     I  may  in  truth  say  to-day, 
that  in  the  conflict  between  nations  there  are  two  battles 
to  be  fought.    The  first  is  the  battle  of  right.    The  second 
is  the  battle  of  force.     A  day  will  arrive  in  which  humani- 
ty will  not  have  to  submit  save  to  the  former  of  these 
tests,  when  its  grievances  will  be  decided  by  humanity  itself; 
but   though   that   hour   has    not  yet  arrived  for  us,    its 
dawn  announces  itself  with  vivid  brillancy.     See  what  has 
happened  yesterday  in  Italy.    See  what  is  taking  place  to- 
day in  the  Great  Eepublic  of  the  North.     See  what  will 
take  x^lace  to-morrow  in  a  republic — unhappy,  but  a  sister, 
and  beloved  of  our  heart — in  the  republic  of  Mexico.  (Cheers 
for  Mexico.  Cheers  for  Benito  Juarez.)     See  also  what  will 
take  place  to-morrow  in  another  republic,  sister  likewise  of 
Mexico — sister  likewise  of  the  United  States  of  Columbia — 
in  the  republic  of  Chile  !     (Applause.)     Yes,  gentlemen, 
Chile  has  already  gained  that  first  battle  of  right,  and  she 
has  gained  it  not  on  the  paper  of  her  own  chancery,  but 
all  the  representatives  of  neutral  nations,  common  friends 
of  Chile  and  Spain — and  from  whom  perhaps  the  latter 
believed  herself  to  have  a  better  right  to  expect  a  favorable 
decision — have  declaied  her  victory  in  an  explicit,  solemn 
and  durable  manner.     There  remains  then  only  the  battle 
of  force  to  be  decided;  and  I  hope,  gentlemen,  it    will  be 
decided  soon  and  gloriously.  (Applause.)     There  is  not  in 
this  a  challenge  offered  to  Spain,     On  the  contrary,  Chile, 
whose  prosperity  was  borne  on  the  thousand  wings  of  pro- 
gress, has  not  desired  this  war,  has  not  provoked  it,  would 
avoid  it  even  at  this  very  hour  at  the  cost  of  all  sacrifices. 


37 

with  the  exception  of  one  only — that  of  her  honor,  (Vehe- 
ment acclamations.)      But  when  that  war  is    thrust  in 
our  fiice  by  an  uncivil  ultimatum,  selecting  the  grand  an- 
niversary of  the  country's  birth  for  the  affront,  and  consum- 
mating it  afterwards  with  the   scandalous  pillage  of  our 
unarmed  bays — what  remains  to  be  done  but  to  accept 
that  war  and  prepare  ourselves  for  the  combat?  (Applause.) 
Yes,  we  have  accepted  it,  and  we  will  march  cheerfully  to 
encounter  the  common  enemy,  after  having  invested  in  the 
Ark  of  the  country, 'our  gold,  the  fruit  of  noble  labor;  and 
we  are  disposed  to  water  her  fields,  which  that  labor  had 
fertilized,  with  the  best  blood  of  our  brothers.     (Bravo  ! 
Bravo  !  )       Now,    I    ask,  shall    we    fight    alone     while 
America,  for  whose  cause  Ave  have  unsheathed  the  sword, 
look   passively  at   the  struggle  ?       (Unanimous  cries  of 
No!    No!)     Or  shall  we  renew,    gentlemen,  those  grand 
days  when  Bolivar  and  San  Martin  breaking  loose   like  lu 
sublime  tempest  from  the  furthest  extremities  of  America, 
discharged  in  the  heart  of  those  mountains  which  the  hand 
of  God  has  placed  all  along  our  boundaries  as  a  common 
bulwark,  the  thunderbolt  of  Ayacucho,  the  thunderbolt  of 
independence  and  of  the  liberty  of  America  ?     To  you 
who  are  the  sons  of  Bolivar  and  of  Santander,  of  Sucre 
and  of  Miranda,  to  you  who  are  the  representatives  of  the 
three  nations  of  Old  Columbia  (which  heaven  grant  may 
again    reunite    in    one    reconciled    family),    to    you    it 
belongs  to  answer.  (Enthusiastic  acclamations — prolonged 
Cheers  for  Bolivar,  San  Martin,  and  Cochrane,  etc.)     And 
at  this  appropriate  moment  permit  me  to  make  a  i)ause 
and  bring  forward  the  second  question  which  I  introduced 
at  the  beginning.     Is  this  war  only  against  Chile  or  is  it 
against  all  America  ?     Spain  has  always  given,  as  the  only 
reason  of  her  aggressions  from  Valparaiso  to  Panama,  the 
respect  of  her  citizens  violated  by  our  people  and  govern- 
ments, giving  for  their  foundation  the  death  of  two  country 
laborers  in  a  domestic  broil,  I  know  not  in  what  farm  in 
the  vallies  of  Peru.     But  the  accusation  in  itself,  was  it 
just,  was  it  true  ?     No,  gentlemen,  on   the  contrary,  per- 
mit me  to  state  that   the  accusation  is  based  only  on  the 
most  abject,  iniquitous  of  frauds,  the  fraud  of  ingratitude. 
More  than  sufficient  right  has  the  American  to  detest  the 
name  of  Spaniard,  especially  in  the   present  century    and 
on  the  present  soil.     I  need    make  no   comments  on  this. 


38 

I  am  treadinp;  the  soil  which  Morillo  conquered.     I  am 
standing  on  the  country  of  Cakhis  and  of  Pola  Sahivarrieta 
(prolonged  applause.)     But   the  easy  and  magnanimous 
heart  of  Americans   soon  forgot   all  this,    and  the    Spa- 
niards  returned  to  find  among  us,  I  will  not  say  an  asyl- 
um but,  a  home,  a  new  country.     See  what  is  taking  place 
in  all  the  great  cities  of  South  America,  in  Caracas,  iu 
Bogota,  in  Buenos  Ayres,  in  Quito,  in  Lima,  in  Santiago, 
in  Panama  itself.     In  all  parts  you  will  find  Spaniards  ad- 
vantageously located  in  commerce,  in  the  clergy,  in  public 
posts,  in  society,  at  the  very  firesides  of  the  Americans 
who   have  given  them  fortune,  family,  and  as  much   or 
more    happiness    than    would    have    fallen   to    them    in 
their  own  far  off  country.     (It  is   true!'    It   is   true!) 
If  this  be  so,  how  dares  the  Spanish  Government   assert 
so  vile  and  ungrateful   a  calumny  ?      How    pretend  to 
exact    from    us    that    respect    which    of    ourselves    we 
'freely  give  ;  for,  gentlemen,  respect  is  not  decreed  (laugh- 
ter and  applause)  by  pointing  at  our  breasts  the  mouths  of 
her   cannon.       The  truth  is,  that    Spain,    as   a   people, 
does  not  feel,  and  does  not  believe  anything  of  this  kind.  I 
know  Spain.     I  have  sat,  not  lonj]:  since,  at  her  firesides. 
Kelatives,  by  me  beloved,  live  there.     I  feel  the  generous 
blood  of  her  race  boil  in  my   veins,  and  I  esteem  Spain 
because  I  have  a  memory,  and  I  cherish  in  my  republican 
heart  the  sentiment  of  justice  for  all.     But  the  Spanish 
government,  which  does  not  feel  or  believe  this  either,  and 
which  makes  its  first  victim  the  noble  but  unwary  and 
credulous   Spanish  people,  fosters   the  imposture  for  its 
own  ends,  miserable  ends  which  Spain  herself  will  some 
day  repudiate.     The  violation  of  resjyect,  therefore,  is  no- 
thing else   than  a   pretext   for   systematic   aggression  — 
for  the  war  already  general  against  America.     The  true 
cause  is,  on  the  contrary,  that  which  is  the  least  respect- 
able in  the  intercourse  of  communities,   it  is  the  guano. 
(Applause.)     And  otherwise,  do  you  believe,  gentlemen, 
that  to  pursue   that  chimerical  respect  for  her  subjects, 
Spain  would  have  unfolded  this  policy  uniformly  aggres- 
sive and  invasive  towards  all  those  that  were  formerly  her 
colonies  ?     Do  you  believe  that  General  Gandara  was  sent 
to  the  solitary  and  once  obscure  shores  of  unconquerable 
Santo  Domingo  solely  in  search  of  respect  ?     Do  you  be- 
lieve that  the  valiant,  the  honorable  General  Prim  took  a 


39 

Spanish  army  to  Mexico,  by  virtue  of  a  tripartite  treaty 
extorted  from  France  and  Eiigland,  in  coercion  of  that  same 
respect  which  Spain — proud  Spain,  declared  herself  impo- 
tent to  obtain  alone?  Do  you  believe  that  Admiral  Pare- 
ja,  the  least  respectful  of  the  courteous  Spanish  Marine, 
came  to  this  coast  in  search  of  respect  in  the  Pacific?  Do 
you  believe  that  for  this  same  respect  the  Commisario 
Mazarredo  let  loose  on  the  world  his  famous  doctrine  of 
revindication?  And  be  it  understood,  citizens  of 
the  United  States  of  Columbia,  be  it  understood  that 
you  have  not  yet  been  recognised  by  Spain  as  an  indepen- 
dent people  (several  voices,  "We  do  not  wish  it!  We  do  not 
need  it!")  be  it  understood  that  neither  the  Narvaez 
Ministry,  nor  the  O'Donnell  Ministry  have  disapproved,  as 
the  Pacheco  Ministry  did  in  the  tribune  —  in  the  tribune 
alone — the  principle  of  Mazarredo:  and  you  well  know  that 
what  one  Ministry  in  Spain  does,  that  which  succeeds  un- 
does; and  that  while  one  Minister  is  sent  to  adjust  a  treaty 
under  the  faith  and  honor  of  nations,  another  is  sent  to 
destroy  it  by  cannon  shots.  (Applause.)  But  permit  me 
to  continue,  bringing  to  mind  what  Spain  has  done  to  force 
from  us  respect  for  her  sons,  (laughter.)  Do  you  believe 
that  through  respect  for  Mazarredo,  for  his  poisoning  in  a 
glass  of  beer  on  board  the  steamer  Paita,  for  his  assassina- 
tion by  the  clatter  of  empty  kerosene  cans,  for  his  perse- 
cution in  a  fantastic  hand-car  to  Colon  by  all  the  colored 
people  of  the  Isthmus,  do  you  think  that  for  all  these 
fabulous  stories  Spain  would  send  and  maintain  in  the 
Pacific  the  most  powerful  squadron  that  has  been  seen  in 
these  waters,  and  precisely  at  the  time  that  her  navy  emer- 
ged from  its  secular  prostration,  when  she  most  needed  it 
on  her  own  coast  to  sustain  her  rank  as  a  nation  of  the 
first  order  which  she  had  solicited;  when  it  was  urgent 
for  her  to  collect  it  on  the  shores  of  Cuba  now  placed  in 
the  twofold  danger  of  a  triumphant  insurrection  in  Santo 
Domingo  and  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  North  America, 
two  terrible  and  intrusive  infections  which  she  can  ward 
off  only  with  a  triple  sanitary  cordon  of  iron-clad  ships  ? 
Do  you  believe,  that  Spain  would  send,  as  she  did  not 
delay  in  sending,  new  reenforcements  in  support  of  that 
respect,  that  her  ships  may  rot  in  listlessness  in  our 
harbors,  making  herself  forgetful  of  that  traditional  his- 
tory already  converted  into  a  proverb  among  our  people, 


40 

that  no  sliip  of  war  that  ever  doubled  Cape  Horn  with 
the  Spanish  flag  has  returned  to  view  the  waters  of  the  At- 
lantic ?  [Applause  and  shouts  of  "  Viva  Lord  Coch- 
rane" !]  And  do  you  believe,  in  fine,  that  she  would 
have  claimed  from  Peru  the  payment  of  a  prodigous 
sum  of  millions  in  which  are  included  the  expenses  of 
the  war  of  Independence,  exacting  for  this  outrage 
the  double  mortgajre  of  her  honor  and  her  revenue  ? 
And  do  you  believe,  finally,  that  only  in  quest  of 
respect  Admiral  Pareja  exacted  that  Chile  should  burn  a 
little  powder  for  the  penon  of  her  Admiral's  ship,  and 
because  she  did  not  do  so  declares  war  against  her  and 
treacherously  seizes  her  ships  ?  Oh  !  No.  It  is  es- 
sential that  this  undignified  farce  should  be  concluded,  for 
us  and  for  the  world.  It  is  essential  that  the  armed  hand 
of  America  should  lift  up  the  curtain  of  this  comedy 
with  which  an  attempt  is  made  to  deceive  all  nations  and 
Spain  herself;  and  to  declare,  once  for  all,  that  the  cause  is 
one,  that  the  principle  is  common,  that  the  danger  is  iden- 
tical for  all.  For  in  truth,  gentlemen,  that  which  is  be- 
ing done  is  the  excavation  on  our  entire  borders  of  one 
sepulchre,  in  which  if  they  thrust  us  one  by  one  it  is 
only  to  render  more  facile  the  task  of  these  royal  grave- 
diggers  who  still  believe  they  do  us  an  honor  because, 
on  easting  our  dead  bodies  in  the  pit,  they  enshroud 
us  with  their  purple  robes.  (Bravos).  And  in  this  com- 
ing war,  I  should  say,  in  this  war  raging  this  very  day, 
permit  me  to  point  out  two  distinguished  points  which 
will  have  a  vast  influence  in  the  development  of  this 
contest  ;  the  Chincha  Islands,  the  sole  object  which  Spain 
covets,  and  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  the  sole  strategetic 
route  by  which  Europe  can  attack  the  Eepublics  of  the 
Pacific  in  their  vulnerable  side.  And  do  not  believe 
that  the  Chincha  Islands  should  be  always  a  prop- 
erty solely  and  exclusively  American,  because  of  the 
treasures  which  they  contain,  but  because  a  maratime 
European  Power  of  the  first  or  second  rank,  once  mis- 
tress of  them,  could  maintain  in  the  Pacific  a  squadron 
so  powerful  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  us  to  sail 
out  of  our  ports  with  hats  in  our  hands  to  plead 
permission  of  these  new  lords  of  this  same  sea  which 
half  a  century  ago  we  made  ours  by  force  of  vic- 
tory.    [Applause.]     And  will  all  America  consent    that 


41 

this  shall  happen  ?  Will  England  and  America,  apart 
from  every  moral  affection,  from  every  notion  of  justice, 
from  every  interest  of  the  balance  of  power,  tolerate 
that  their  commerce  shall  be  submitted  anew  to  the 
same  laws  which  governed  the  Peninsular  monopoly 
in  the  days  of  the  famous  affairs  in  Portobello  and  Pa- 
nama ?  Will  they  consent  that  Spain,  whose  finan- 
cial ruin  reaches  the  last  extremity,  —  not  to  say 
the  utmost  disgrace,  according  to  the  news  which  the 
steamer  that  arrived  this  very  day  at  Colon  has  brought 
us, — should  cancel  her  bankruptcy  with  English  capital. 
North  American  capital,  the  capital  of  all  the  markets  of 
Europe,  invested  on  a  gigantic  scale  in  the  commerce  of 
the  Pacific  ?  This,  gentlemen,  is  what  we  shall  know 
when  the  news  arrives,  from  Europe  and  the  United 
States  in  the  early  days  of  the  coming  year,  of  the  effect 
which  the  conduct  of  Admiral  Pareja  has  produced  ;  and 
the  war  between  Spain  and  Chili  which,  if  to-day 
it  be  an  isolated  aggression,  will  to-morrow  be  a  con- 
tinental act.  But  with  regard  to  what  you  will  do  on 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  this  route  which  to-day  is  the 
property  of  all  free  and  enlightened  nations,  but  which 
to-morrow  may  possibly  be  also  the  momentary  property 
of  invading  rulers,  we  need  not  await  news  from  anv  part. 
Will  you  consent,  all  the  ports  in  the  Pacific  once  closed, 
as  I  deeply  hope  they  soon  will  be,  to  the  Spanish  squad- 
ron, that  their  public  or  private  emmisaries  should  take 
from  this  Isthmus  a  single  naval  supply,  a  single  grain  of 
powder,  a  single  grain!  of  wheat,  a  single  grain  of  sand  ? 
(Unanimous  cries  of  No  !  No  !)  And  if  to  sustain  these 
noble  intentions  you  should  have  to  fight  among  your 
picturesque  mountains,  in  the  wild  defiles  of  your  grand 
railway,  against  a  bold  invader,  I  am  sure  of  this,  you 
will  not  fight  alone.  There  will  fight  by  your  side  every 
man  of  courage  who  has  come  to  reside  in  this  city,  the 
centre  of  the  universe  from  its  furthermost  extremities  ; 
there  will  fight  with  you  the  English,  the  German,  the 
Scandinavian,  the  Italian,  and  above  all  there  will  fight 
with  us,  those  sons  of  North  America  whom  I  perceive 
here  in  a  considerable  number  ;  for  all  those  men  adore 
in  their  hearts  that  sublime  motto,  the  Isthmus  of  gold, 
as  eternal  as  the  Isthmus  of  land  on  which  we  tread,  and 
which  must  always  unite  the  two  Continents  of  America 


42 

in  one  single  group,  in  one  single  family,  in  one  single 
home — the  Doctrine  of  Monroe — America  for  the  Ameri- 
cans !  (Enthusiastic  and  prolonged  applause.  Long 
live  Chile  and  America.) 

Dr  Pablo  Arosemena  was  next  called  for,  who  made  a 
few  pertinent  remarks  in  the  same  strain,  which  were  in- 
terrupted by  frequent  applause.  The  meeting  then  ad- 
journed until  the  commission  shall  again  convoke  it  for 
their  report. 


LETTER     OF 
B.    VICUNA    MACKEKNA, 

To  the  Editor  of  "La  Epoca,"  of  Madrid, 

UPON    THE    REAL    CAUSES    AND    MOTIVES    OF 

THE  WAR  BETWEEN  CHILI  AND  SPAIN. 


"  On  board  the  steamer  Pacific,  in  the  latitude  of 
Panama,  November  4,  1865. 

"  My  dear  Sir — It  would  hardly  be  possible  for  you 
to  comprehend  the  sudden  and  deplorable  war  which  has 
sprung  up  between  Chili  and  Spain  if  a  frank  voice  from 
these  lar-distant  zones  were  not  to  explain  to  your  just 
mind  and  enlightened  patriotism  so  unexpected  and  ex- 
traordinary an  event.  However,  not  because  unknown 
and  humble  do  I  refrain  from  assuring  you  that  that  voice 
is  the  voice  of  an  honest  man,  and  a  sincere  friend  of  the 
Spanish  people,  in  the  midst  of  whom  I  was  so  fortunate 
as  to  pass  some  of  the  happiest  days  of  my  life.  The 
manner  in  which  I  am  going  to  have  the  honor  of  address- 
ing you  will  be  the  strongest  proof  of  the  noble  motives 
which  prompt  me  to  write  to  you  these  few  words,  which, 
although  hurriedly  written,  refer  to  the  gravest  affair  with 
which  true  Spaniards  and  true  Americans  can  occupy 
themselves  to-day. 

"After  forty  years  of  peace  and  independence.  South 
America  had  become  thoroughly  reconciled  to  the  old 
mother  country.  Chili  had  signed  a  treaty  of  peace  with 
her,  and  that  country — model  of  loyalty,  prudence,  and 
energy — offered  to  Spaniards  the  most  unlimited  and  cor- 
dial hospitality.  You  may  assure  yourself,  beyond  a  doubt, 
that  there  is  not  a  single  Spaniard  settled  in  Chili  who 
may  not  have  made  a  fortune  more  or  less  considerable. 


44 

and  there  is  not  a  single  one  who  may  not  have  Chilian 
children.  I  do  not  purpose  to  cite  special  cases.  Inform 
yourself  of  any  honest  Spaniard  whatever  who  may  have 
visited  our  shores,  and  if  that  man  does  not  wilfully  dis- 
tort the  truth,  I  am  not  afraid  for  a  single  moment  of  be- 
ing falsified.  On  the  contrary,  Chili,  on  account  of  her 
mild  climate,  her  productions  similar  to  those  ot  the  Pen- 
insula, the  serious  character  of  her  people,  her  traditions 
of  order  and  respect  for  the  laws,  had  become  the  favorite 
resort  of  those  who  came  from  Spain  to  these  regions  in 
search  of  a  home  and  a  new  country. 

"  How  is  it,  then,  that  all  this  has  disappeared  in  an 
instant,  and,  according  to  the  latest  dates  (Oct.  17), 
Admiral  Pareja  should  be  in  Valparaiso,  threatening  that 
rich  and  splendid  city,  and  that  there  should  be  collected 
in  Santiago,  under  the  vigilance  of  the  police,  all  the  Span- 
iards, to  serve  as  hostages  for  the  consequences  of  an  at- 
tack, otherwise  unpunished,  against  her  defenceless 
people, 

"  It  is  that  which  the  Lima  periodical  I  have  the  honor 
to  enclose  will  explain  to  you,  in  the  article  entitled 
"Fortnightly  Eeview,"  and  which  I  will  try  to  make 
clearer  in  a  few  words. 

"  Since  the  announcement  of  the  coming  of  Admiral 
Pinzon,  there  has  been  in  Chili  and  in  Peru  a  vague  rumor 
of  alarm.  The  aggressive  tendencies  of  Marshal  O'Donnell 
were  well  known,  and  the  annexation  of  Santo  Domingo 
— the  first  threat  against  American  nationalities — was  re- 
cent. The  personal  conduct  of  the  Admiral,  and  the  ar- 
rival of  Commissary  Mazarredo  converted  that  rumor  into 
a  suspicion.  The  military  occupation  of  the  Chinchas, 
and  the  famous  declaration  of  recovery,  unfortunately 
gave  cause  for  those  doubts  and  fears,  and  converted  them 
into  an  international  scandal. 

"  The  aggression  of  Admiral  Pinzon  was  against  Peril, 
but  Chili  could  not  be  indifferent.  Her  geographical  and 
commercial  position,  her  history,  her  security,  were  all  in- 
volved in  that  question.  Picture  to  yourself  Portugal  in- 
vaded by  France,  declaring  the  right  of  conquest,  or 
any  other  offense  aginasther  nationality.  Could  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Spain,  without  being  guilty  of  treason  and 
mibecility,  remain  indifferent,  simply  because  the  attack 
was  not  directed  against  her  own  territory  ? 


45 

"  A  better  comparisou  can  not  be  made,  for  it  was  ex- 
actly what  took  place.  You  know  that,  in  1820,  San 
Martin  had  come  from  Chili  to  liberate  Peru,  because  the 
independence  of  that  country  was  the  complement  of  ours. 
You  also  know  that,  in  1830,  another  Chilian  army  de- 
feated General  Santa  Cruz,  President  of  Bolivia,  who  an- 
nexed Peru  to  that  country,  and  that,  also,  because  the 
safety  of  Peru  was  our  own  safety. 

"  But  hoAV  did  Chili  manifest  her  adhesion  to  the  cause 
of  Peru  ?  That  is  the  only  question  to  be  solved,  because 
in  it  are  found  all  the  claims  which  have  given  rise  to  the 
war.  The  people,  by  acts  purely  evidences  of  sympathy 
and  enthusiasm  ;  the  Government,  by  no  act  which  was 
not  in  entire  conformity  with  the  law  of  nations.  I  know 
how  much  has  been  falsely  attributed  to  the  country  and 
to  the  Government  in  this  matter,  but  the  notes  of  our 
Chancery  and  the  Tavira-Covarrubius  settlement,  are  am- 
ple proofs  of  what  I  assert.  I  v/ill  make  yet  anotlier  ob- 
servation. When  the  war  in  Mexico  commenced  against 
the  Emperor  of  the  French,  collections  of  money  were 
made  throughout  the  country,  and  large  sums  were  sent  to 
President  Juarez,  to  enable  him  to  maintain  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  country  against  the  French  invaders.  Could 
a  case  be  shown  of  more  evident  hostility  against  Fiance  ? 
What  was  the  satisfaction  demanded  by  the  powerful  and 
susceptible  Government  of  Napoleon  III..?  None  whatever. 
And  that  because  the  governments  of  Europe,  in  spite  of 
the  dense  cloud  of  error  and  calumny  Avhich  darkens  our 
republics  in  their  eyes,  understand  that  Ave  are  subject  to 
the  same  impressions,  the  same  alarms,  the  same  sympa- 
thies which  are  felt  by  the  people  whom  they  govern,  and 
consequently  subject  to  the  same  duties  and  the  same  ob- 
ligations. And  in  this  light  permit  me  to  ask  you,  would 
Russia  have  declared  war  or  demanded  satisfaction  for  the 
public  manifestations,  the  contributions  of  money,  the  pop- 
ular processions,  the  simultaneous  and  persistent  attacks 
of  the  Press  in  France  and  Spain  in  lavor  of  unfortunate 
Poland  ?  Why,  then,  should  the  popular  sympathy  of  Chili 
for  a  brother  and  neighboring  country,  violently  assault- 
ed and  olfended  in  her  honor  and  the  ])rinciple  of  indepen- 
dence which  was  common  to  us,  be  looked  upon  in  any 
other  light  ?  You  should  judge  the  affairs  of  America  as 
the  affairs  of  all  civilized  countries  ought  to  be  judged  ; 


46 

then,  and  only  then,  will  you  enter  the  regions  of  reason, 
of  mutual  advantages,  of  civilization  itself. 

"  But  it  has  been  said  that  there  was  a  real  insult  to 
the  Spanish  flag,  and  that  the  name  cf  Isabel  II.  was 
dragged  through  the  mire  of  defamation  ;  and  these  two 
imputations  have  been  made  a  question  of  honor — an  im- 
mediate and  sufficient  cause  of  war.  It  may  be  just  for 
me  to  assure  you,  on  the  faith  of  a  man  of  honor  and 
truth,  that  the  iirst  assertion  is  entirely  false.  I  was  a 
present  witness  of  the  event  of  the  1st  of  May,  1864,  and 
there  was  not  even  the  slightest  affront  to  a  flag  then  still 
friendly,  and  which  was  placed,  as  usual,  on  a  stafi"  so 
elevated,  that  no  one  could  have  touched  it,  though 
desirous  of  doing  so. 

"  With  regard  to  the  second  charge,  I  must  acknowledge 
that  there  were  mean  and  cowardly  acts  on  the  part  of  an 
obscure  paper,  gotten  up  for  speculation  upon  the  scandal 
of  an  exceptional  situation.  But  did  not  the  Government 
protest  against  this  journal,  offering  to  try  it  according  to 
the  laws  ?  Did  not  society  protest  and  condemn  it  to 
scorn  ?  What  more  could  one  wish  that  it  should  have 
done  ?  And  in  Spain  itself  have  not  journals  of  high 
grade  been  published,  offensive  to  the  throne — as  the  El 
Guirrigai  y  El  Tio  Camorra,  among  others  ?  What  won- 
der, then,  that  the  San  Martin  should  come  to  light  in  an 
aggrieved  and  justly-distrustful  country  ?  And  the  Punch 
of  London,  and  the  Charivari  of  Paris,  do  they  not  pub- 
lish pictures  and  articles  highly  offensive  to  the  dignity  of 
the  Spanish  monarchs  ?  And  will  Spain,  because  of  that, 
demand  satisfaction  with  the  mouth  of  the  cannon,  and 
declare  war  against  those  countries  ? 

"  In  reality,  there  has  been  no  oflense  against  Spanish 
honor  which  should  give  occasion  for  war,  still  less  justify 
it.  If  the  Spaniards  have  always  been  treated  with  cor- 
diality and  kindness  ;  if  they  have  all  found  fortunes,  fi\m- 
ily,  and  social  considerations  like  the  native  sons  of  the 
country,  and  with  even  a  preference  over  strangers  of  other 
nationalities  ;  if  in  forty  years  of  peace,  there  has  never 
been  a  single  mutual  quarrel  between  the  two  countries — 
no  shadow — not  a  single  diplomatic  rupture  whatever  ;  if 
the  treaty  of  peace  in  force  for  more  than  twenty  years 
has  never  been  violated  ;  if  many  of  the  highest  employees 
of  the  Government,  in  the  Kepublic,  and  even  in  her  Con- 


47 

sular  Corps,  are  Spaniards,  how,  then,  can  the  object  of 
the  war  be  the  obtaining  of  satisfaction  from  Chili,  so 
generous  and  hospitable,  or  reparation  for  offences  which 
have  never  been  committed  ?  How  can  they  make  a  pre- 
tence of  vindicating  Castilian  honor  which  has  never  been 
offended,  and  which,  on  the  contrary,  has  been  respected  in 
all  that  really  demands  respect  ?  Truly,  either  the  Spanish 
Government  is  wilfully  blind,  or  her  agents  have  put  a 
traitorous  bandage  over  their  eyes  ;  because,  by  the  war 
which  she  has  undertaken,  she  will  reap  only  calamity  and 
disaster,  instead  of  the  benefits  which  a  long  and  honorable 
peace  have  furnished. 

"  I  ask  again,  how  is  it  that  this  war  exists,  and  threat- 
ens the  two  countries  who  are  engaged  in  it  with  injuries 
without  end  ? 

"  I  do  not  wish  in  this  place  to  discuss  the  events  with 
which  the  Press  in  Spain  and  America  has  already  occu- 
pied itself,  and  which  have  brought  things  to  that  deplor- 
able state  in  which  they  are  to  be  found,  and  which  have 
been  judged  according  to  their  real  value,  which  amounts 
to  nothing  after  discarding  Pinzon's  boasts  and  Mazarre- 
do's  fears. 

"  I  will  only  permit  myself  to  show  you  how,  in  rela- 
tion to  Chili,  there  has  risen  from  such  slight  causes,  so 
insignificant,  so  accidental  some  of  them,  so  entirely  free 
of  bad  intentions,  and  so  unworthy,  all  of  them,  of  occupy- 
ing for  more  than  an  hour  the  attention  of  two  civilized 
countries — a  tumult  of  recriminations  which  have  dragged 
us  into  a  war  lamentable  for  both. 

"  I  am  going  to  place  before  you,  with  the  sincerity  of 
a  righteous  mind,  the  truth — the  sad,  but  stern  truth — of 
all  that  has  happened,  I  fulfill  thus  the  principal  object 
of  this  letter,  and  conform  with  the  promise  which  I  made 
at  the  commencement,  to  explain  the  almost  fabulous 
events  which  are  unfolding  themselves  in  the  Pacific. 

"  Unfortunately  for  Spain  and  Chili,  there  existed  in 
the  latter  country  a  diplomatic  agent  of  the  former,  whose 
character — generous,  but  without  energy  or  judgment — 
was  found  subject  to  the  influence  of  any  one,  and  easily 
prevailed  upon  to  take  any  particular  course.  Seuor  Ta- 
vira,  with  whose  personal  friendship  I  have  been  honored, 
had  these  defects  among  his  numerous  good  qualities,  and 
consequently  he  was  involved  in  disgrace. 


48 

"  lu  the  first  days  of  the  Chincha  troubles,  there  arose, 
as  was  natural,  a  violent  party  among  the  Spaniards  res- 
ident in  Santiago.  This  was  principally  composed  of 
three  doctors — two  of  some  merit,  and  a  homoeopathist 
who,  we  know  not  why,  has  had  bestowed  upon  him  the 
Cross  of  Charles  III,  which  to-day  he  would  have  deserv- 
ed to  lose,  on  account  of  his  contemptible  adulation  to 
the  Chilians  since  war  was  declared.  These  men  made 
themselves  the  head  of  a  party,  and  united  night  after 
night  in  gatherings,  at  the  house  of  a  bookseller,  also  a 
Catalan,  who  should  have  had  nought  but  feelings  of  gra- 
titude and  respect  towards  a  country  in  which  he  counted 
many  friends,  and  in  which  he  had  made  his  fortune. 

"  By  that  circle,  and  through  the  means  of  accomplices, 
Seuor  Tavira  was  urged  to  get  up  claims,  to  raise  charges, 
to  invent  accusations  to  blow  the  flame  between  the  two 
countries,  these  leaders  forming  a  party,  by  means  of  let- 
ters written  to  Spain,  combinations  with  the  Spanish 
squadron  then  lying  off  the  Chinchas,  and  an  active  pro- 
pagation among  the  Spaniards  of  all  classes,  not  only  in 
Chili,  but  in  all  the  republics  of  the  Pacific,  and  even 
those  of  the  Plata.  This  was  the  more  incomprehensiblis 
in  the  leaders  of  this  agitation  in  Chili,  inasmuch  as  all 
of  them  were  married  to  Chilians,  and  had  children  in  ^  the 
country.  Now  they  wander  scattered,  and  anathematized 
as  ingrates,  to  a  country  to  which  they  have  done  innu- 
merable wrongs,  in  return  for  its  having  given  them  wives, 
homes,  and  respect. 

"  Moved  by  these  strong  but  unworthy  influences, 
Mr.  Tavira  qualified  the  position  which  Chili  took  in  the 
Peruvian- Spanish  question  in  a  way  completely  false,  ex- 
aggerated, and  odious.  And  permit  me  to  make  known 
here,  that  if  the  Spanish  Government  had  not  possessed 
aught  but  the  notes  of  ner  Minister,  and  the  perfidious 
private  communications  which  had  been  written  to  Madrid 
from  the  Pacific,  in  demand  of  crosses  or  lucre,  by  which  to 
judge  of  what  had  passed,  she  would  not  have_ formed  an 
opinion  different  from  that  which  she  has  manifested,  nor 
have  followed  a  line  of  conduct  different  from  that  which 
she  has  followed.  But  since,  joined  to  these  accusations 
and  claims — sometimes  puerile,  sometimes  senseless,  and 
always  unfounded — there  have  gone  to  Spain  the  replies 
of  our  Chancellor,  it  was  necessary  to  be  wilfully  blind  in 


49 

order  not  to  see,  overtlirown  and  confuted,  all  tliose  imputa- 
tions. So  certain  is  this,  that  Mr.  Tavira  himself,  turning 
from  his  first  impressions,  formed  through  the  opinions  of 
others,  and  hidden  intrigues,  voluntarily  called  the  con- 
vention which  bears  his  name,  and  whose  violent  condem- 
nation neither  in  Chili  nor  any  country  of  the  globe  could 
be  understood  or  explained,  because  in  it  the  question  of 
mutual  honor  was  settled  beyond  all  susceptibility. — 
Thus  at  least  they  made  haste  to  declare  it,  for  the  justifi- 
cation of  Chili  in  Spain,  to  all  the  Cabinets  of  which  was 
given  official  knowledge  of  that  settlement. 

Upon  this  point,  I  may  be  allowed  to  make  an  earnest 
protest  against  one  of  the  basest  calumnies  which  have 
been  forged  by  bad  Spaniards  against  the  dignity  of  Chili, 
and  Spain  herself.  I  allude  to  the  senseless  but  widely 
circulated  rumor,  that  M.  Tavira  had  received  a  heavy 
sum  of  money  to  make  the  referred  to  settlement. 
Such  a  charge  is  beneath  discussion.  Spain  has  not  such 
vile  sons  as  would  sell  her  honor  for  gold,  nor  is  Chili  so 
mean-spirited  as  to  seek  peace  by  bribery.  There  was,  in 
truth,  an  incident,  traitorously  distorted,  which  might 
have  given  rise  to  that  imposture.  When,  on  the  first  of 
June  of  the  present  year.  Deputy  Matta,  objecting  to 
the  paragraphs  of  courtesy  in  the  Annual  Message  of  the 
President  of  the  Republic  to  the  Spanish  Government 
and  to  her  Minister  in  Chili,  as  an  excessive  condescen- 
tion,  said,  in  his  discourse,  "that  perhaps  these  mani- 
festations were  the  fruit  of  a  secret  understanding  be- 
tween the  Spanish  Envoy  and  the  Chilian  Chancery." 
But  that  secret  understanding  about  the  phrases  oi  a 
public  document  could  never  be  interpreted  as  a  suspicion 
or  an  allusion  to  base  fraud.  It  is  also  said  now,  by  the 
public  voice  of  those  countries,  that  the  partisans,  of  the 
war  are  interested  in  the  negociation  of  the  heavy  debt 
which  Spain  claimed  from  Peru,  and  that  that  is  the 
cause  of  her  aggression  upon  Chili,  and  of  her_  policy 
resolutely  hostile  to  America.  But  be  it  said,  in  hon- 
or of  the  race  to  which  we  all  belong,  such  calumnies 
are  only  worthy  of  the  obscure  adventurers  who  invented 
them  for  a  speculation.  The  humblest  politician  in  Chili 
would  be  above  such  an  imputation,  and  we  have  no  reason 
to  believe  that  such  is  not  the  case  in  Spain. 

Thus  I  have  briefly  treated,  but  with  chivalrous  fidel- 

3 


50 

ity,  the  true  history  of  the  first  part  of  this  affair,  other- 
wise ahuost  incomprehensible.  It  appears  that  there 
were  intrigues  on  the  part  of  the  discontented  and  violent 
who  created,  by  means  of  the  unwary  spirit  of  the  Span- 
ish Minister,  an  imaginary  diplomatic  quarrel,  and  the 
storm,  which  afterwards  increased  by  evil  winds,  by  the 
agency  of  unsettled  and  ambitious  characters  in  the 
Spanish  squadron,  by  innumerable  manifestoes  indiscrim- 
inately signed,  by  the  pure  spirit  of  companion  and  coun- 
tryraanship  (and  probably  by  motives  less  noble)  has  be- 
come a  positive  Avar  between  two  countries  which  yester- 
day were  living  in  the  most  perfect  harmony. 

Now  permit  to  me  consider  the  second  part  of  this  la- 
mentable affair,  or  rather  its  denouement,  for  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  imagine  that  causes  so  insignificant  should 
have  produced  such  disastrous  results,  unless  in  this  same 
denouement  there  may  have  intervened  circumstances 
equally  peculiar  and  no  less  incomprehensible  to  a  dispas- 
sionate critic,  than  those  which  I  have  hastily  mentioned. 

In  this  unfortunate  conflict,  all  has  been  a  question  of 
words.  As,  at  the  commencement,  the  bland  and  indeci- 
sive disposition  of  Mr.  Tavira  gave  origin  to  the  difficulty, 
so,  in  the  end,  the  persistent  obstinacy  of  Admiral  Pareja 
has  provoked  the  war.  He  was  the  most  active  promoter 
of  the  dissatisfaction  with  the  Tavira-Covarrubias  settle- 
ment, and  since  his  arrival  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific — 
where  he  was  born — has  manifested  such  an  inimical  spirit 
to  Chili,  that  many  have  been  led  to  believe  that  he  was 
prompted  in  his  actions  by  the  singular  idea  of  avenging 
the  death  of  his  relative,  Greneral  Pareja,  who  fell  in  the 
War  of  Independence,  commanding  a  Spanish  army  on 
our  coasts,  fifty  years  ago. 

The  Tavira  settlement,  disapproved  by  the  Spanish 
Government,  through  the  influence  of  her  Admiral  in  the 
Pacific,  and  Tavira  himself  dismissed  from  oflice,  the  er- 
ror was  committed  of  urging  to  the  utmost  reparation 
for  the  offence  given  and  of  replacing  the  Minister 
who  was  responsible  for  it.  This  was  a  signal  evidence 
that  Spain  herself  intentionally  sought  a  war  with  Chili. 
The  same  thing  had  been  done  in  Peru  respecting  the  as- 
sault of  Pinzon.  Mazarredo  was  sent  to  make  right  his 
misdeeds,  and,  entrusted  with  the  curing  of  the  disease, 
had   only  made   it   worse.     It   was   desirable   to  put  an 


51 

end  to  the  difficulties  caused  by  the  Tavira  Convention, 
and  so  Admiral  Pareja  was  sent  to  Chili — the  very  man 
who  had  been  its  bitterest  censor,  and  who  was  interested 
in  condeming  it  under  all  its  phases.  Could  this  foil  to 
kindle  the  flame  which  threatens  to  embrace  us  all,  if  the 
wood  or  the  fire  are  approached  to  the  pile  already  pre- 
pared ? 

And  not  only  that  ;  as  an  individual,  as  a  character, 
Admiral  Pareja  has  done  all  that  was  in  his  power  to 
make  a  settlement  impossible.  He  chose  the  glorious  day 
which  we  celebrate  as  the  anniversary  of  our  inde- 
pendence, to  arrive  in  our  ports,  without  any  intimation 
whatever  tending  to  reunite  the  diplomatic  relations  which 
had  not  yet  been  broken,  he  sent. us  a  peremptory  and  of- 
fensive ultimatum,  to  which  there  was  no  reply  except 
war,  and  in  fact  commenced  this  by  establishing,  with  four 
men-of-war,  a  blockade  over  the  seventy  or  more  ports  of 
our  coasts,  without  any  previous  notice  to  neutral  com- 
commerce  ;  seizing  all  Chilian  property  within  reach  of 
his  guns,  and  jesting  at  all  positive  law  of  the  public  right 
of  nations,  as  has  been  made  evident  by  the  unanimous 
protests  of  the  Diplomatic  and  Consular  Corps  accredited 
to  the  Republic. 

Thus  it  has  been  not  events,  but  characters,  not  the  (if- 
fences  of  one  nation  against  another,  but  the  isolated  acts 
of  individuals,  not  mutual  advantage  nor  the  demands  of 
the  law  of  nations,  but  the  personal  defects  of  the  emissaries 
of  Spain,  which  have  brought  about  this  sad  conflict, 
whose  consequences  it  is  given  to  none  to  foresee.  The 
Aveakness  of  Mr.  Tavira  in  getting  up  accusations  destitute 
of  all  foundation,  and  the  violence  of  Admiral  Pareja  in  ag- 
gravating them  by  unjustifiable  acts — in  them  you  have 
the  only  cause  of  this  war  of  individuals,  of  imperfect  or- 
ganizations, of  inconsiderate  elections  on  the  part  of  the 
[Spanish  Government,  so  far,  unfortunately  for  her,  from 
the  theater  of  events,  and  consequently  incapable  of  com- 
prehending their  true  character. 

And  it  is  necessary,  sir,  that  you  should  understand  that 
I  speak  here  under  the  hypothesis,  honorable  and  rational, 
that  all  Spain  seeks  in  Chili  is  reparation  for  an  imaginary 
grievance,  and  that  such  a  claim  may  have  been  made  in 
the  most  complete  good  faith. 

I  ought  to  declare  to  you,  with  the  moderation  which  I 


52 

have  tried  not  to  lose  for  a  single  instant  throughout  this 
communication,  that  if  unfortunately,  Spain  should  cherish 
views  with  regard  to  our  moral  and  forced  submission  to 
her  influence,  or  of  aggression  upon,  our  territory,  or  of 
isolated  pretensions  or  in  combination  with  other  European 
powers,  whichever  they  may  be,  and  which  have  a  tenden- 
cy to  alter  in  the  least  our  institutions,  Spain  and  her  allies 
would  have  but  one  thing  to  hope  for,  now  and  always, 
from  all  Chileans — war,  unceasing  war,  until  the  entire 
Republic  were  a  mountain  of  ruin  and  her  people  en  masse 
an  immense  cemeteiy. 

Judge  these  events  dispassionately,  Mr.  Editor,  bringing 
to  bear  the  public  documents  which  refer  to  them,  and 
this  brief  review  of  the  private,  or,  if  you  will,  mysterious 
part  of  them,  and  putting  your  hand  upon  your  heart — 
the  heart  of  a  loyal  and  honorable  Spaniard — declare  if 
there  is  any  cause,  pretext  or  excuse  whatever,  for  this 
war  between  two  nations  of  the  same  origin,  the  same  as- 
sociations, and  the  same  religion. 

In  the  meantime,  it  is  not  for  me  to  say  what  Chili 
will  do  in  this  contest,  to  which,  without  any  desire  or 
fault  of  hers,  she  has  been  provoked. 

,  I  will  only  permit  myself,  before  concluding,  to  simply 
ask — having  made  evident  the  fact  that  this  war  ought 
not  to  be — that  it  is  without  justification  or  possible  ex- 
cuse— ivJiat  is  the  object  which  Spain  has  in  view  in  car- 
rying it  on  ? 

I  understand  that  there  may  be,  even  in  this  age,  wars 
without  cause  or  motive,  and  with  no  other  foundation 
than  the  abuse  of  power.  But  although  I  understand 
that,  Mr.  Editor,  I  cannot  possibly  imagine  the  existence, 
in  these  times,  of  a  war  ivitliout  an  object. 

What  does  Spain  pretend  ?  Does  she  covet  conquests, 
mercantile  franchises,  influences,  political  or  purely  social 
like  those  which  England  proposes  to  wrest  from  Japan 
with  the  canon,  and  Spain  and  France  united  from  Cochin- 
China  ?  No  !  Nothing  like  that  has  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment in  view,  because  in  truth  it  would  be  to  insult 
her  deeply  to  suppose  that  by  such  means  she  should  pro- 
pose to  accomplish  those  ends  in  the  present  stage  of  civ- 
ilization and  the  law  of  nations.  Spain,  then,  rendering 
full  homage  to  her  good  faith,  simply  proposes  the  revindi- 
cation of  her  honor  and  the  respect  of  her  subjects  in  those 
distant  countries. 


53  .    . 

I  have  already  clearly  shown  that  that  honor  has  not 
been  offended  in  the  least,  and  that  that  respect  to  Spanish 
subjects  has  been  accorded  in  Chili,  not  from  fear  of  Spain, 
certainly,  but  from  innate  love  towards  her,  to  the  utmost 
limits  of  the  most  generous  hospitality. 

But  I  am  willincr  to  admit,  for  a  moment,  that  Chili 
was  guilty  of  one  or  the  other  fault.  Was  the  course  pur- 
sued by  Pinzon,  Mazarredo  and  Pareja  the  one  which  ought 
to  lead  to  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  difficulty — to  se- 
cure the  noble  ends  which  the  Cabinet  of  Madrid  g^ad  in 
view  .?  Certainly  not.  On  the  contrary,  the  very  oppo- 
site to  that  which  they  claimed  should  have  been  the  re- 
sult.    Facts  are  proving  it. 

Mr.  Tavira,  in  threatening  notes,  asked  explanations 
from  our  Grovernment,  showing,  in  support  of  his  haughti- 
ness, the  mouths  of  the  cannons  of  his  fleet.  Neverthe- 
less, the  Chilian  G-overnment,  without  descending  from 
its  dignity,  neither  in  its  actions  nor  in  its  language,  sat- 
isfied these  diplomatic  exactions  fully  and  under  the  faith 
of  the  Spanish  Government  itself,  through  her  exacting 
envoy. 

These  explanations  cast  aside  as  insufficient,  Admiral 
Pareja,  instead  of  demanding  others  more  satisfactory,^  as 
he  appears  to  have  been  authorized  to  do  by  his  ostensible 
powers,  (explanations  which  Chili  could  still  have  given, 
without  injury  to  her  honor),  sent  an  ultimatum,  which  is 
the  last  word  of  nations  before  the  voice  of  the  cannon. 
Did  she  succeed  thus  in  her  object  ?  Quite  the  contrary, 
as  you  well  know. 

Subsequently,  he  declared  a  blockade  of  all  our  ports, 
as  a  means  of  pressure.  Has  he  progressed  thus  in  his 
plans  ?     The  declaration  of  war  was  our  reply. 

And,  now,  what  more  can  he  do  ?  Bombard  our  ports, 
as  he  vaguely  insinuates  in  his  last  dispatch  to  the  Eng- 
lish Minister  in  Chili.  But  in  case  of  such  barbarity, 
would  he  have  the  right  to  condemn  the  inevitable  reprisal 
on  our  part  ? 

Will  Spain  send  new  ships  ?  Will  she  send  troops  for 
disembarkation  ?  Will  she  drain  her  treasury  and  her 
best  blood  in  expeditions  much  more  distant  than  those 
of  Santo  Domingo  ?  And  in  the  meantime,  Chili,  who 
needs  assistance  from  no  one  to  enable  her  to  live  and 
fight,  will  maintain  her  ground  to  a  man,  and  the  object 
of  the  war  will  never  be  attained. 


54 

Behold  tlien,  Mr.  Editor — a  war  impossible  of  suc- 
cess on  account,  of  its  causes,  -whicli  had  hardly  author- 
ized a  diplomatic  rupture,  and  which  is  going  to  be  m- 
possihle  in  the  attainment  of  its  object. 

And  with  regard  to  the  vjea7:ness  of  Chili,  for  which 
you  yourself,  Mr.  Editor,  have  asked,  within  my  remem- 
brance— doubtless,  with  the  best  intentions — a  "little  com- 
passion," permit  me  to  say  a  word,  which  will  certainly 
not  be  a  boast. 

The^'e  is  one  force  relative,  and  another  intrinsic,  pos- 
sessed by  all  nations.  Of  the  former,  all  the  advantages 
are  in  favor  of  Chili,  on  account  of  the  distance,  the  stormy 
seas,  the  high  price  of  provisions,  the  scarcity  of  spoil  in 
her  waters,  all  the  prerogatives,  in  fact,  natural  to  a  coun- 
try which  carries  on  a  war  in  her  own  territory  against 
one  which  comes  to  attack  her  from  a  distance  of  three 
thousand  leagues. 

But  Chili  certainly  relies  more  upon  herself,  upon  her 
intrinsic  strength  than  upon  these  accidents,  which  to  a 
certain  extent  are  extraneous. 

She  relies  upon  her  credit  intact,  and  which  stands 
highest  in  the  markets  of  Europe.  She  relies  upon  the 
homogeneousness  of  her  race  and  the  political  unity  of  all 
her  inhabitants.  She  relies  upon  the  valor  always  shown 
by  her  sons,  upon  those  facile  means  which  maritime  law 
sanctions,  and  by  which  the  weakest  people  may  carry 
destruction  and  ruin  to  the  very  heart  of  the  strongest. 
She  relies  upon  the  indomitable  patriotism  of  her  sons, 
who,  in  fifty  years,  have  raised  themselves  from  the  most 
miserable  colony  of  Spain  to  the  most  flourishing  Re- 
public of  that  part  of  the  New  World  ;  and  lastly,  upon 
the  justice  of  her  cause,  recognized,  in  the  most  explicit 
manner,  solemnly  and  unanimously,  by  the  impartial  rep- 
resentatives of  all  the  countries  mutually  friendly  to  Spain 
and  Chili,  and  perhaps  more  friendly  to  the  former  than 
to  the  latter. 

Judge,  then,  Mr.  Editor,  if  Admiral  Pareja  is  likely  to 
succeed  in  the  object  of  this  war,  which  he  alone  has 
brought  about,  and  which  he  alone  expects  to  bring  to  an 
end  by  the  right  of  might. 

Do  you  know  how  that  Eepublic  has  replied  to  the 
threat  of  war  which  Pareja  has  i&timated  with  his  four 
ships  ?     By  ordering  the  prolongation  of  telegraph  lines 


55 

througliout  the  Kepublic,  the  opening  of  immense  high- 
ways, the  completion  of  four  or  six  lines  of  raih-oad  in 
actual  construction,  the  abolition  of  all  taxes,  and  above 
all,  by  unanimously  rejecting  in  Congress,  (where  the  writer 
held  an  honorable  place,)  a  law  confiscating  the  property  of 
Spaniards,  at  the  very  moment  when  the  Spanish  ships 
"were  confiscating  all  the  Chilian  property  which  they  found 
within  their  reach. 

Let  the  Spanish  nation  reflect  upon  what  is  passing  in 
those  distant  seas — let  the  Government  open  its  eyes  to 
the  light,  the  clear  light  of  facts,  and  not  to  the  obscure 
and  false  light  of  mysterious  acts  and  deceptive  intrigues 
— and  she  will  see  that  if  a  profound  and  immediate 
change  does  not  take  place  in  her  •policy  towards  these 
people,  an  immense  abyss  opens  before  her  future.  This' 
is  not  a  threat,  Mr.  Editor.  Heaven  grant  it  may  not  be 
sad  prophecy  ! 

In  the  meantime,  I  have  fulfilled,  to  the  best  of  my 
ability,  the  promise  which  I  made  to  you  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  letter — to  speak  only  the  truth  of  this  deplo- 
rable affair. 

To  you  and  your  colleagues  of  the  press,  who  have  done 
rare  but  honorable  justice  to  our  people,  it  is  given  to 
judge  them  as  you  see  fit,  inasmuch  as  I  do  not  impose 
these  revelations  upon  you,  although  faithful  and  well- 
meant,  as  a  rule  of  conduct,  nor  upon  the  press,  nor  upon 
the  people  of  the  Spanish  Grovernment. 

AVith  sentiments  of  distinguished  consideration,  your 
most  obedient  servant, 

BENJAMIN  VICUNA  MACKENNA. 


THE  MONEOE  DOCTEINE. 


JANUARY  6,   1866. 
IN   DEFENCE   OF   THE   REPUBLICS   OF 

Chili,  Pern,  Mexico  and  Saint  Domingo. 


From  the  New  York  Times  of  January  7,  1866. 

Quite  a  large  meeting,  all  things  considered,  was  held 
last  night  in  the  large  hall  of  the  Cooper  Institute,  for 
the  avowed  purpose  of  reaffirming  the  spirit  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  and  of  expressing  a  sympathy  with  the  feebler 
and  struggling  Republics  of  the  Continent.  The  hall  was 
appropriately  decorated  with  bunting  and  transparencies. 
On  a  strip  of  cloth,  stretched  across  the  front  of  the  plat- 
form, were^  the  words,  "  Heroic  Santo  Domingo,  Chili, 
Peru,  Mexico.  If  they  have  not  conquered,  they  will  con- 
quer." And  on  a  draped  transparency,  the  words,  "  Henry 
Winter  Davis.     His  spirit  lives  with  us  to-night." 

At  eight  o'clock,  Mr.  Squier,  accompanied  by  W.  C. 
Bryant,  Peter  Cooper,  Edward  E.  Dunbar,  Hon.  Mr.  Pas- 
ton,  and  others,  entered  the  hall,  and  were  greeted  with 
cheers. 

Mr.  Squier  called  the  meeting  to  order,  read  the  call, 
and  nominated  Mr.  Bryant  as  President,  with  Messrs. 
Webb,  Garrison,  Jerome,  Beekman,  Cooper,  Tieman,  Lea- 
vitt,  Walker,  Greeley,  Dunbar,  Rosecrans,  Paston,  &c.,  as 
vice-presidents,  and  Messrs.  Bell,  Wheeler,  and  Anthon  as 
■Secretaries. 


57 

President — William  Cullen  Bryant.  Vice-Presidents — 
William  H.  Webb  ;  Cornelius  K.  Garrison  ;  Leonard  W. 
Jerome  ;  Hon.  James  W.  Beekman  ;  Peter  Cooper  ;  Danl. 
F.  Tieman  :  Rev.  Joshua  Leavitt ;  Hon.  Robt.  J.  Walker; 
Major-General  J.  A,  Garfield  ;  Manton  Marble  ;  Hon. 
Horace  Greeley  ;  John  E.  Williams  ;  Edward  E.  Dunbar; 
Major-General  Rosecrans  ;  Hon.  Hiram  Walbridge  ;  Hon. 
Theo.  E.  Tomlinson  ;  General  E.  L.  Viele  ;  Hon.  Charles 
D.  Paston.  Secretaries— 3 .  B.  Wheelock  ;  Col.  J.  W. 
Watson  ;  Col.  A.  H.  Duganne  ;  Jas.  L.  Anthony  ;  Joseph 
Bell. 

SPEECH   OF   "WILLIAM    CULLEN   BRYANT. 

Fellow-citizens  :  I  cannot  better  state  the  purpose 
for  which  we  have  come  together  than  it  has  been  stated 
in  the  call  and  in  the  observations  made  by  the  gentleman 
of  the  committee  who  has  just  addressed  you.  We  are 
here,  as  he  very  truly  said,  not  for  the  purpose  of  creating 
public  opinion,  but  of  giving  it  a  free,  a  full  and  enthusi- 
astic expression.  We  have  come  here  to  assure  the  Gov- 
ernment of  our  support  in  resisting  such  audacious^  at- 
tempts as  we  have  lately  seen  to  interfere  in  the  politics 
of  Mexico.  (Applause.)  It  is  with  deep  sorrow,  mj 
friends,  that  I  find  myself  unable  to  introduce  to  you  this 
evening  one  whom  we  expected  to  make  the  principal  ad- 
dress here,  Hon.  Henry  Winter  Davis,  of  Maryland.  He 
was  engaged  to  be  present,  but  death  interposed  between 
him  and  the  fulfilment  of  the  engagement,  and  thateloquent 
voice,  to  which  you  would  have  listened  with  so  much 
pleasure,  that  voice  which  always  spoke  from  a  full  mind, 
and  which  uttered  the  dictates  of  a  sincere,  manly,  gen- 
erous, and  fearless  heart,  is  silent  forever.  To  Winter 
Davis,  more  than  to  any  other  man  in  Maryland,  that 
State  owes  it  that  she  choose  the  better  part,  and  remain- 
ed among  the  States  that  were  faithful  to  the  Union. — 
(Applause.)  If  he  had  lived,  he  would  have  added  to  the 
obligations  to  him  under  which  his  country  now  rests,  by 
maintaining  and  vindicating  with  all  his  eloquence  and 
all  the  enthusiasm  of  his  noble  nature  the  cause  which  has 
called  us  together  to-night. 

Mr.  Bryant  then  announced  that  it  was  the  intention  of 
the  committee,  after  the  reading  of  the  resolutions  and 
letters,  to  adjourn  the  meeting  to   some   other   evening, 


58 

when  the  attendance  of  prominent  men,  now  detained  by 
business  in  Washington,  coukl  be  secured, 
Mr.  Squier  then  read  the  following  letters  : 

FROM    HON.    MONTGOMERY    BLAIR,    LATE    POSTMASTER- 
GENERAL. 

Washington,  Dec.  12,  1865. 
To  the  Committee  of  the  ^^  Monroe  Doctrine"  Bleeting, 

Neiu  York. 

Gentlemen  :  I  regret  that  my  professional  engagements 
prevent  me  from  accepting  your  invitation  to  participate  in 
your  meeting.  The  recent  concerted  aggressions  of  Euro- 
pean powers  on  the  free  States  of  this  Continent,  culmi- 
nating in  the  outrage  of  Spain  upon  Chili,  demand  an 
outspoken  expression  of  American  feeling.  The  President 
in  his  recent  Message  has  declared,  in  the  calm  and  dis- 
passionate tone  becoming  the  gravity  of  the  occasion  and 
the  dignity  of  his  place,  that  these  wrongs  must  cease. — 
Our  people  should  now  meet  and  manifest  their  purpose 
to  sustain  him  in  upholding  Republicanism  in  America.  I 
rejoice  that  the  people  of  New  York  intend  to  respond  so 
promptly. 

The  late  rebellion  was  the  work  of  these  European  Pow- 
ers.    By  their  money  and  intrigue   it   was   inaugurated. 

They  fomented,  encouraged,  and  recognized  it,  with  a 
view  to  suppress  the  growth  of  republicanism  in  Europe, 
and  to  resume  their  sway  over  this  continent.  We  should, 
in  my  opinion,  have  sooner  crushed  the  rebellion  if  we  had 
boldly  from  the  first  confronted  the  instigators  of  it,  and 
afforded  the  lovers  of  freedom  in  Europe  an  opportunity 
to  help  us,  by  striking  at  our  enemies  there.  Shall  we 
take  longer  counsel  of  an  unreasoning  dread  of  these  Pow- 
ers, and  continue  to  tolerate  their  aggressions,  which  have 
cost  us  so  dearly  ;  or  shall  we  imitate  the  wiser  boldness 
of  our  fathers,  whose  manly  courage  saved  our  country 
and  our  sister  republics  from  such  wrongs,  even  whilst 
we  were  comparatively  a  feeble  Power  ?  Are  those  Euro- 
pean tyrants  so  strong  in  the  affections  of  their  own  peo- 
ple or  in  material  resources  that  we  must  bow  before 
them,  and  speak  with  bated  breath  of  the  right  of  the 
American  people  to  be  exempt  from  European  conquest  ? 
Far  from  it.  It  is  because  we  have  sapped  the  foundations 


59 

of  tlieir  tlirones  in  tlie  hearts  of  their  people  that  they 
have  conspired  against  us  ;  and  they  have  conspired  only 
because  they  dared  not  offend  their  own  people  by  striking 
us  openly. 

The  people  of  France  are  still  loyal  to  the  traditions 
vrhich  allied  them  in  feeling  and  in  arras  with  our  own 
people  in  the  last  century  They  are  as  indignant  almost 
as  our  own  people  at  the  blow  thrust  at  us  through  Mex- 
ico by  their  Emperor.  It  is  not  the  waste  of  their  means 
or  of  their  blood  which  makes  the  Mexican  enterprise  so 
odious  to  the  people  of  France  ;  it  is  the  proof  it  affords 
that  the  third  Napoleon  is  false  to  the  policy  and  to  the 
friends  of  that  Napoleon  whose  name  was  his  passport  to 
the  throne,  and  that  he  is  doing  the  work  of  the  _  allied 
despots  who  dethroned  the  great  Napoleon,  in  seeking  to 
destroy  free  government  in  America,  which  the  founder  of 
his  dynastv  aided  in  building  up  and  strengthening  as  a 
bulwark  of  the  freedom  and  power  of  France.  No  gen- 
uine Bonapartist  can  think  the  honor  of  France  committed 
to  the  maintenance  of  a  Hapsburg  on  an  American  throne. 
On  the  contrary,  they  feel  dishonored  by  the  attempt,  and 
by  the  cruel  and  unjust  war  waged  by  the  Emperorupon  a 
distant  and  unoflending  people  to  consummate  it  ;  and 
we  shall  but  respond  to  the  liberal  and  enlightened  feeling 
of  the  French  nation  by  remonstrating  against  it,  and  even 
by  a  resort  to  force,  if  that  shall  be  necessary,  to  check 
the  Emperor  in  his  mad  career  in  Mexico.  The  historian 
of  the  Empire  assured  them,  from  his  place  in  the  French 
Assembly,  that  we  would  do  this  when  we  had  suppressed 
the  Southern  rebellion  ;  and  the  liberals  of  France  will 
rejoice,  as  we  do,  that  the  first  Message  of  the  President, 
after  that  event,  makes  it  certain  that  they  will  not  be  dis- 
appointed. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  very  respectfully. 
Your  obedient  servant, 

MONTGOMERY  BLAIR. 


feom  senator  nesmith,  of  oregon. 
United  States  Senate  Chamber, 

Washington,  Dec.  27,  1865. 
Hon.  E.  G.  Squier,  Chairman,  &c. 

Sir  :  I  have  received  the  communication   of  your  com^ 


60 

mittee  of  the  20th  instant,  inclosing  a  call  for  a  meeting 
at  the  Cooper  Institute,  New  York,  on  the  6th  proximo, 
having  in  view  the  public  expression  of  sentiments  upon 
the  subject  of  "Foreign  interference  in  the  domestic 
affairs  of  this  continent."  In  reply  thereto,  I  regret  to 
say- that  public  duties  in  this  city  will  prevent  my  com- 
pliance with  the  invitation  with  which  you  have  honored 
me  to  be  personally  present. 

I  have  much  gratification,  however,  in  saying  to  you 
that  the  purport  of  your  meeting  has  my  earnest  sympa- 
thy and  support.  I  can  see  no  objection  to  the  public 
agitation  of  a  subject  that  has  become,  by  recent  events, 
60  deeply  interesting  to  the  people  and  government  of  our 
country  ;  and,  on  the  contrary,  I  believe  in  the  abiyidant 
cause  and  the  appropriate  occasion  for  announcing  our 
opposition  to  any  assaults  upon,  or  interference  with,  the 
integrity  of  public  institutions  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. . 

I  have  always  been  impressed  with  the  correctness  and 
propriety  of  the  political  theory  enunciated  in  the  annual 
Message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  on  the  2d 
of  December,  1823,  in  allusion  to  this  subject  ;  and  I  am 
convinced  that  what  was  then  uttered  by  President  Mon- 
roe as  pregnant  with  consequences,  near  and  remote,  to 
affect  the  interests  of  our  country,  has  increased  force  in 
its  application  now.  The  eventful  history  of  our  country 
for  the  past  four  years  should  certainly  give  claim  to  a  re- 
cognition from  the  nations  of  the  earth  of  ability  to  pre- 
serve our  institutions  ;  and  the  success  and  prosperity  in 
every  civilized  attribute  of  great  nationality  that  has 
marked  our  onward  course  since  the  foundation  of  our 
government,  surely  entitles  us  to  national  pride  and  the 
right  of  rank  in  the  class  of  great  nations.  After  the 
overthrow  of  Bonaparte,  the  four  great  monarchies  of 
Europe  (and  I  believe,  in  the  early  stages,  England,  too, 
favored  the  alliance)  formed  what  was  known  as  the  "  Holy 
Alliance,"  whose  object  was  to  extend  their  principles,  and 
oppress  and  put  down  popular  institutions.  Have  we  any 
less  claim  as  a  great  nation,  and  interested  in  the  promul- 
gation of  our  theory  of  Government,  to  strengthen,  aid, 
and  support  our  sister  republics  near  us  ?  Does  not  our 
own  interest,  perhaps  safety,  demand  positive  hostility  to 
any  attempt  to  break  down  free  government  near  us.? 
•     I  regard  the  attacks  of  Spain  upon  the  South  American 


61 

States  as  futile  and  unimportant.  From  the  time  of  that 
nation's  first  attempt  to  reclaim  her  American  possessions 
to  the  present,  every  effort  in  that  direction  has  been  a 
failure.  The  hostility  of  Spain  alone  to  either  Peru  or 
Chili  can,  in  my  judgment,  never  be  very  formidable. 

It  is  the  other  nation  mentioned  in  your  communication 
■whose  present  condition  invites  my  warmest  sympathies, 
and  excites  my  indignation  at  what  I  have  always  regard- 
ed as  an  outrage  upon  her  people,  and  a  covert  attack 
upon  our  government.  No  reasonable  claim  ever  existed 
to  warrant  the  seizure  of  the  Mexican  Republic  by  the 
Emperor  of  the  French.  No  just  cause  for  war  demanded 
the  invasion  of  her  soil.  None  of  the  rights  of  property 
gave  the  semblance  of  a  title  to  the  possession  of  that 
country.  Mexico,  disturbed  by  internal  dissensions,  and 
■weak,  was  seized  upon  through  the  promptings  of  avarice 
and  by  the  strong  arm  of  power ;  and  a  ruler  and  a  form 
of  government  repugnant  to  the  very  large  proportion  of 
her  inhabitants  was  forced  upon  the  country.  An  empire 
was  created  by  force  of  arms  with  a  people  eminently 
republican  in  their  notions  of  government.  An  enaperor 
was  placed  over  them  who  was,  in  every  sense,  a  foreigner, 
without  the  most  remote  claim,  by  either  association,  lan- 
guage, or  consanguinity,  to  be  their  monarch. 

While  the  energies  of  our  own  government  were  directed 
to  the  suppression  of  the  most  gigantic  rebellion  the 
world  ever  saw,  the  Emperor  of  the.  French  stole  into 
Mexico,  in  a  clandestine  manner,  and  usurped  the  govern- 
ment. He  selected  the  only  period  of  time  when  he  would 
have  dared  to  perpetrate  an  outrage  from  which  resulted 
great  aid  and  assistance  to  those  intent  upon  the  destruc- 
tion of  Republican  government  in  our  own  country,  and 
practically  became  their  ally.  We  have,  happily,  subdued 
the  rebels  at  home;  and  tha  troops  who  consummated  that 
result  should  not  have  been  disbanded  until  the  co-laborer 
in  that  rebellien  and  his  mercenaries  were  driven  from  the 
soil  of  our  sister  Republic. 

In  conclusion,  I  have  to  state  that  I  am  earnestly  in  favor 
of  our  government  reasserting  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and, 
if  need  be,  vindicating  it  at  the  mouth  of  the  cannon. 
I  am  very,  respectfully. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

J.  W.  NESMITH,  of  Oregon. 


62 


FROM    HON.    JOHN    CONNESS,    UNITED    STATES    SENATOR 
FROM    CALIFORNIA. 

Senate  Chamber,  Washington,  Dec.  12,  1865. 

Dear  Sir  :  Your  note  inviting  me  to  attend  a  meeting 
to  be  held  in  New  York,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  expres- 
sion to  American  opinion  on  the  subject  of  the  "  Monroe 
Doctrine,"  is  just  received. 

It  will  not  be  in  my  power  to  be  present  on  the  occa- 
sion ;  but  I  can  assure  you  fully  of  my  concurrence  in  the 
movement. 

No  more  opportune  time  could  be  selected  for  a  protest 
of  the  American  people  against  the  interference  of  Euro- 
pean monarchists  with  republican  institutions  on  this  con- 
tinent than  the  present. 

The  constant  menace  of  the  baser  tyrannies  of  the  old 
world  during  the  recent  rebellion  will  remain  fresh  in  the 
memories  of  our  people  for  many  a  day.  The  advantage 
taken  by  the  Emperor  of  France  of  our  direst  troubles 
and  needs  in  the  invasion  of  Mexico,  and  the  attempts  of 
that  usurper  and  traitor  to  liberty  to  establish  an  empire 
there  by  force  of  arms,  has  no  parallel  in  history.  Under- 
taken by  him  upon  the  double  pretence  of  a  defence  of 
French  interests,  and  in  behalf  of  "  order,"  he  has  become 
the  author  of  wrong  and  disorder,  which  must  continue 
until  he  shall  withdraw  his  hirelings  and  pretenders  to  the 
place  whence  they  came. 

Spain,  following  the  bad  example,  has  assaulted  the 
Kepublic  of  Peru,  and  exacted  terms  which  the  people  of 
that  noble  country  have  contemptuously  rejected.  Upon 
the  most  shallow  and  baseless  excuses  and  allegations, 
Spain  has  followed  up  her  attack  upon  Peru  by  an  as- 
sault upon  the  independence  of  Chili,  which  republic  was 
menaced  by  war,  or  presented  the  alternative  of  degrada- 
tion. To  the  everlasting  credit  of  that  gallant,  free,  and 
peaceful  people,  the  guage  of  war  has  been  accepted,  and 
now  it  is  for  a  just  world,  but  particularly  for  the  Amer- 
ican people,  to  decide  whether  these  constant  interferences 
and  assaults  on  republican  institutions  and  the  public 
peace  shall  continue.  For  one,  I  am  in  favor  of  plain  lan- 
guage to  European  Powers.  We  are  for  peace  and  good 
will  on  earth.  We  do  not  claim  the  right  of  forcible  pro- 
pagation of  our  political  principles  ;  but  we  believe  in 
them  and  in  the  advantage  to  mankind  of  their  extension. 


63 


You  shall  not  suppress  them  by  force.  You  have  not 
been  appointed  by  the  world  as  masters,  neither  as  pacifi- 
cators according  to  your  practice.  We  speak  in  our  own 
behalf,  and  in  behalf  of  the  independence  of  nations  and 
peoples. 

Let  this  be  our  diplomacy,  not  diluted  until  dissolved, 
and  my  opinion  is  that  we  will  soon  enter  upon  an  era  in 
which  the  practice  of  each  nation  of  the  world  will  be  to 
mind  their  own  business. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  CONNESS. 
To  Hon.  E.  G.  Squier,  Chairman,  d:c. 


FROM  EON.  ROBERT  DALE  OWEN,  OF  INDIANA. 

New  York,  Jan.  1,  1866. 

Gentlemen  :  Your  kind  invitation  finds  my  time  so 
engrossed  that  I  am  unable  to  prepare  anything  worth 
giving  to  the  public  at  your  meeting  next  Saturday. 

I  take  a  deep  interest,  however,  in  the  subject.  It  is 
not  now  a  theory  of  which  we  may  safely  put  off  the  solu- 
tion for  years.  It  knocks  at  the  door.  It  involves  the 
fate  of  our  nearest  neighbor. 

I  do'not  regard  the  twenty-year-long  dissensions  of  Mex- 
ico as  the  mere  result  of  individual  ambitions,  or  as  the 
national  brawls  of  a  people  incapable  of  self-government. 
I  see  in  these  the  great  struggle  through  which  all  nations 
must  pass — the  contest  between  privilege  and  oppression 
on  the  one  hand,  and  liberal  principles  and  institutions 
on  the  other.  They  had  their  iucubus  as  well  as  we. 
Ours  was  slavery  ;  theirs  the  overshadowing  temporal 
power  of  a  church  which  held  in  fee  one-fourth — some 
estimate,  one-third — of  all  lauds  and  houses  in  the  Re- 
public. 

Like  us,  they  brought  their  contest  of  long  years  to  a 
successful  termination.  Like  us,  they  might  look  forward, 
as  the  reward  of  victory,  to  a  prosperous  and  peaceful 
future. 

Their  hopes  were  blasted  by  foreign  interference.  The 
excuse  was  that  they  must  bo  governed  by  others 
since  they  could  not  govern  themselves.  But  despotism  is 
not  the  remedy  for  internal  commotions  ;  least  of  all,  des- 
potism in  America  under  European  protection. 


64 

National  peace  is,  of  all  national  blessings,  the  greatest. 
Therefore,  it  behoves  us  to  avoid  not  only  the  immediate 
but  the  more  remote  causes  of  war.  I  do  not  believe  that 
we  can  maintain  permanent  peace  with  a  European  des- 
potism next  door  to  us  ;  but  neither  do  I  think  that  vrar 
will  ensue,  in  this  case,  if  resolution,  with  good  temper, 
mark  our  policy  now. 

We  must  be  bold  in  the  present,  if  we  would  ayoid  war 
in  the  future.  The  "  Monroe  Doctrine,"  temperately  as- 
serted, is  peace. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  your  obedient  servant, 

KOBEKT  DALE  OWEN. 
To  the  Hon.  E.  Geo.  Squier  and  others,  Committee  : 


t 

FROM    HON.    DANIEL   S.    DICKENSON,    OF    NEW    YORK. 


::} 


Office  District- Attorney  of  the  U.  S. 
FOR  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 

New  York,  Jan.  5,  1866. 

Gentlemen  :  Your  note  inviting  me  to  address  a  meet- 
ing at  the  Cooper  Institute  to-morrow  evening,  called  to 
indicate  the  popular  sentiment  on  the  subject  of  the 
"Monroe  Doctrine,"  has  been  received,  and  my  thanks 
are  returned  for  the  complimentary  remembrance. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  question  of  national  policy,  either 
foreign  or  domestic,  upon  which  the  American  people  of 
all  sections  and  parties  are  so  firmly  united  and  so  reso- 
lutely determined,  as  upon  that  of  resistance  to  the  en- 
croachments of  monarchy  upon  this  continent.  In  short, 
so  often  and  so  unanimously  has  this  sentiment  been  as- 
serted and  repeated  that  the  world  knows  it  by  heart. 

The  world  knows,  too,  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  cher- 
ished principles  of  republican  institutions  ;  that  it  is 
deemed  essential  to  their  safety  and  exemption  from  the 
conflicts  which  are  wont  to  spring  up  and  flourish  in  the 
pestilent  atmosphere  of  monarchy  ;  and  the  world  should 
know,  that  it  is  the  last  point  to  be  yielded  to  force  or  be 
circumvented  by  fraud. 

Entertaining,  as  I  do  to  their  fullest  extent,  these  con- 
victions, I  am  aware  that  the  subject  is  at  this  time  some- 
what interwoven  with  our  foreign  relations,  always  a  deli- 


65 

cate  subject,  and  especially  so  at  this  time,  when  we  are 
surrounded  by  jealousies  and  irritations  ;  and  having  lull 
confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  the  President, 
his  Cabinet  and  ;^Congress  in  the  premises,  I  have  deemed 
it  proper,  in  view  of  an  official  relation  with  the  Federal 
Government,  not  to  mingle  in  popular  demonstrations 
upon  the  subject  at  this  time,  lest  such  action  might  be 
misconstrued  or  misunderstood  to  the  prejudice  of  others 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  gentlemen. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

D.  S.  DICKINSON. 
Hon,  E.  Geo.  Squier  and  others,  Committee. 


FROM    HON.    R,    T.    VAN   HORN,    OF    MISSOURI. 

Washington,  D.  C,  Jan.  4,  18G6. 

Gentlemen  :  I  have  delayed  an  answer  to  your  invita- 
tion to  attend  a  meeting  on  the  6th  with  the  hope  that 
it  would  be  possible  to  be  present,  but  I  am  compelled  to 
forego  that  pleasure. 

Let  me  say  a  Avord.  The  air  is  full  of  strange  rumors, 
which  are  well  calculated  to  alarm  every  patriotic  Ameri- 
can. We  must  appeal  to  the  people  at  once,  and  arouse 
the  country  to  the  danger. 

If  a  monarchy  be  established  in  Mexico,  we  shall  be  un- 
true to  our  duty,  and  will  receive  the  execrations  of  the 
lovers  of  Freedom  throughout  the  world. 

The  talk  that  Napoleon  will  withdraw  his  troops,  if  let 
alone,  may  be  true  ;  but  they  will  be  withdrawn  when 
the  liberties  of  the  Mexican  people  shall  have  been  tram- 
pled under  his  feet. 

There  is  but  one  way  to  secure  their  withdrawal — and 
that  is,  the  open,  manly  one,  of  a  notice  to  quit,  backed 
by  a  demonstration  on  the  frontier  to  enforce  it  it  de- 
clined. 

The  great  West  is  ready — it  is  a  unit,  and  will  not  be 
silenced, 

Illinois,  Missouri,  Iowa,  Kansas  and  Colorado  will 
drive  out  the  foreign  troops,  without  a  man  being  taken 
from  other  States. 

5 


66 

All  they  are  waiting  for  is  the  word,  and  they  will  an- 
swer for  the  result. 

jYery  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

R.  T.  YAN  HORN. 

Messrs.   E.  Geo.    Squier,  E.  L.  Viele,  Charles   D. 
Paston,  a.  H.  Duganne,  J.  A.  Wheelock,  Committee. 


FROM   HON.    J.    BAKER,    OF   ILLINOIS. 

Washington,  Dec.  21,  1865. 
Eon.  E.  G.  Squier  and  others,  Commmittee  : 

Gentlemen  :  My  duties  here  as  a  member  of  Congress 
will  preclude  my  attending  the  meeting  on  the  8th  of  next 
month,  to  which  you  invite  me.  I  will  add,  however,  a 
few  words  on  the  particular  subject  which  you  have  in 
hand. 

The  present  French  Emperor  has  somewhere  said,  in 
substance,  that  one  of  the  Napoleonic  ideas  is,  to  keep 
step  with  the  movement  of  one's  age  ;  and  that  if  a  man 
fails  to  do  this,  by  standing  still  or  going  backwards,  he  is 
apt  to  get  run  over — a  first-rate  idea,  by  the  way — but 
the  Mexican  scheme  of  the  Emperor  is  a  flat  violation  of 
it.  The  idea  will  prove  itself  true  in  this  as  in  hundreds 
of  other  instances  ;  the  scheme  will  fail.  The  movement 
of  the  age  is  progressive,  not  retrograde,  or  even  station- 
ary. The  tendency  is  to  larger  liberty,  in  fact,  in  form, 
and  among  all  men,  and  will  not  allow  the  founding  of 
a  throne,  at  the  point  of  foreign  bayonets,  upon  the  ruins 
of  an  American  Republic,  The  idea  of  being  flanked  by 
such  a  monarchy  upon  our  southwestern  border,  presided 
over  by  an  offshoot  of  the  House  of  Hapsbur^,  is  perfectly 
preposterous,  and  not  for  a  moment  to  be  entertained  by 
any  friend  of  liberty  in  America  or  Europe.  The  thing- 
is  morally,  politically,  historically  impossible,  and  never 
would  have  entered  the  head  of  Louis  Napoleon,  had  he 
not  been  entrapped,  by  his  want  of  sympathy  with  free- 
dom, into  the  shallow  supposition  tliat  this  country  was 
going  to  be  done  for  by  the  rebellion.  In  my  judgment, 
this  Republic  should  stand  for  liberty  on  the  continent. 


67 

and  firraly  protest  against  any  further  foreign  coercion  of 
the  political  system  of  Mexico. 

Yours,  very  respectfully, 

J.  BAKEE. 


FROM    HO>T.    CHARLES    SITGREAVE3,     OF     NEW-JERSEY. 

Phillipsburg,  N.  J.,  Dec.  27,  1865. 
Hon.  E.  G.  Squier  and  others,    Committee  : 

Gentlemen  :  I  regret  that  previous  engagements  will 
prevent  my  attendance  at  the  meeting  to  be  held  in  the 
great  hall  of  the  Cooper  Institute,  in  New  York,  on  the 
evening  of  Jan.  6,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  expression 
to  the  sentiments  of  the  people  on  the  subject  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine. 

Although  "  absent  in  body,  I  will  be  present  with  you 
in  spirit."  This  Continent  must  be,  in  all  its  length  and 
breadth,  the  home  of  constitutional  freedom  and  the  asy- 
lum of  the  oppressed  of  every  land,  which  it  never  can  be 
with  an  empire  on  its  borders. 

Our  people  must  never  add  to  the  oceans  of  human 
blood  which  have  been  shed  and  mountains  of  treasure 
that  have  been  expended  to  "maintain  the  balance  of 
power,"  which  they  must  do  if  "foreign,  and  especially 
monarchical,  interference  is  permitted  in  the  domestic  and 
international  affairs  of  this  continent."  You  say  truly, 
that  the  time  is  appropriate  for  an  expression  of  opinion 
on  this  subject.  It  is,  indeed,  appropriate,  not  only  for 
the  reiteration,  but  for  the  maintenance  and  enforcement 
of  the  "  Monroe  Doctrine."  The  stability  of  the  Union, 
the  future  tranquillity  of  the  nation,  the  extension  of  re- 
publican principles  and  the  rights  of  man,  alike  demand 
it.  Now  is  the  proper  time.  The  opportunity  now  lost 
can  never  be  regained,  without  destroying  the  pea'ce  of  the 
world.  An  earnest  declaration  by  Congress  and  tlie  Presi- 
dent now,  I  think,  would  be  sufficient ;  but  if  not,  then  a 
million  of  brave  men,  disciplined  in  the  march,  the  camp, 
and  the  battles  of  a  four  years'  sanguinary  war,  will,  un- 
der God,  settle  the  question  of  despots  for  ever. 
Very  truly  yours, 

CHAS.  SITGPtEAVES. 


68 


from.  maj.-gen.  j,  a.  garfield,  m.  c,  from  ohio. 

House  of   Representatives,  ) 
Washington  City,  Dec.  26,  1865.  j" 

Hon.  E.  Geo.  Squier  : 

Dear  Sir  :  Yours,  inviting  me  to  address  a  meetincij  at 
the  Cooper  Institute,  on  the  application  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  to  our  relations  with  Mexico,  Peru  and  Chili,  is 
received.  I  regret  that  my  duties  here  will  not  allow  me 
to  accept  your  invitation.  I  should  be  glad  to  cooperate 
with  you  in  an  effort  to  inform  the  citizens  of  my  country 
oj  what  means  and  for  what  ends  the  monarchies  of  Eu- 
rope have  been,  and  are  still,  endeavoring  to  trample  out 
republican  liberty  in  the  New  World.  I  trust  you  will 
call  the  attention  of  the  assembly,  that  will  meet  on  Sat- 
urday evening,  to  the  fact  that  Maximilian,  the  French 
agent  in  Mexico,  by  a  decree  of  Sept.  5,  1865,  re-estab- 
lished slavery,  with  a  view  to  encouraging  emigration  from 
our  rebel  States  ;  thus  affording  another  proof  that  the 
French  usurpation  in  Mexico  was  in  reality  a  part  of  the 
rebellion,  for  the  purpose  of  extending  and  perpetuating 
the  institution  of  slavery. 

I  believe  that  a  firm  and  decided  course  on  our  part 
will,  without  war,  secure  the  removal  of  the  French  usur- 
pation. That  the  usurpation  will  cease,  and  the  preten- 
sions of  Maximilian  and  Napoleon  in  Mexico  will  be  re- 
linquished, I  have  no  doubt. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  very  respectfully  yours. 

J.  A.  GARFIELD. 


FROM    HON.    B.    F.    WADE,    U.    S.     SENATOR   FROM    OHIO. 

Washington,  Wednesday,  Dec.  27,  1865. 
Hon.  E.  G.  Squier  : 

Sir  :  I  have  just  received  your  note  inviting  me  to  at- 
tend a  meeting  to  be  held  iu  the  City  of  New  York,  on 
Saturday  evening  next,  "  for  the  purpose  of  giving  ex- 
pression to  the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  New  York,  on 
the  subject  of  foreign,  and  especially  monarchical,  interfe- 
rence in  the  domestic  and  international  affairs  of  this  con- 
tinent."    I  regret  that  I  shall  no^t  be  able  to  be  present  at 


69 

your  meeting,  but  5^ou  may  be  assured  that  I  am  heartily 
in  sympathy  with  the  declared  object  thereof,  and  intend 
to  make  my  sentiments  known  in  Congress  at  an  early 
period  of  the  present  session. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  yours,  &c., 

B.  F.  WADE. 


from  maj.-gen.   sickles. 

Charleston,  S.  C. 
[Extract.] 

I  regret  that  my  duties  here,  and  the  reserve  imposed 
upon  me  by  the  regulations  of  the  military  service,  prevent 
my  participation  in  a  public  demonstration,  having  for 
its  noble  object  the  expression  of  the  sympathy  of  the  peo- 
ple of  this  country  with  Chili  in  her  struggie  with  Spain, 
and  of  the  unfaltering  adhesion  of  the  United  States  to 
the  Monroe  Doctrine.  But  my  co-operation  will  not  be 
missed,  for  our  people  are  unanimous  and  immovable  in 
their  sentiments  of  attachment  for  our  republican  sisters 
of  the  American  Continent  :  and  although  we  are  weary 
of  war,  European  powers  will  not  be  wise  in  assuming  that 
we  lack  either  the  means  or  the  inclination  to  repel  ag- 
gression. 

DANIEL  E.  SICKLES. 


from  hon.  john  a.  kasson,  of  iowa. 

House  of  Eepresentatives, 
Washington,  Dec.  21,  1865. 
Ron.  E.  G.  Squier  and  others,  Committee  : 

Gentlemen  :  Your  note  of  the  20th  instant,  announc- 
ing a  meeting  at  the  Cooper  Institute  on  the  Ctli  proximo, 
to  give  expression  to  the  public  sentiment  on  the  que_stion 
of  European  interference  with  American  Kepublican  insti- 
tutions, and  requesting  my  attendance,  is  received. 

It  will  afford  me  sincere  gratification  to  be  present  if  it 
shall  be  possible.  The  occasion  has  come  for  the  G-reat 
Republic    to   acknowledge   its  assertion  of  the  '^  Monroe 


70 

Doctrine"  to  have  been  an  empty  phrase,  or  a  prefjjnant 
principle  of  Kepublican,  national  and  continental  safety, 
to  be  enforced  with  the  whole  combined  power  of  the  Amer- 
ican Kepublics  if  required. 

Let  our  counsels  be  prudent,  as  our  preparation  should 
be  complete.  Let  the  reaction  from  Europe,  treacherous- 
ly begun  in  the  hour  of  our  distress,  itself  have  reasonable 
time  to  react  in  view  of  the  increased  solidity  of  the 
United  States  at  the  close  of  our  war. 

Then,  if  justice,  honor  and  respect  for  American  prin- 
ciples do  not  retract  the  interference  already  initiated  by 
Europe,  let  the  blows  fall,  in  the  name  of  (J  od  and  Lib- 
erty, until  the  interfering  riags  shall  have  been  swept  from 
the  two  oceans  that  embrace  our  continent. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  A.   KASSON. 


FROM    HON.     SCHUYLER    COLFAX,    SPEAKER    OF    THE    HOUSE 
OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

Washington,  D.  C,  Dec.  21,  1865. 
Gentlemen  :  It  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  be  present 
at  your  meeting   in  New  York  on   the  6th  of  January  ; 
but,  while  trusting  that  our  country  may  not  become  in- 
volved in  hostilities  with  any  foreign  nation,  if  they  can 
be  honorably  averted,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  expressing 
my  warmest  sympathies  with  the  struggling  and  uncon- 
quered  Liberals  of  Mexico,  and  my  faith  that  both  Presi- 
dent and  Congress  will  so  act  and  speak,  that  the  whole 
world  will  understand  and  appreciate  the  deep  interest  we 
feel  in  the  permanency,  the  tranquilization,  and  the  con- 
sequent prosperity  of  our  neighboring  Rei}ublic. 
Yours  truly, 

SCHUYLER   COLFAX. 


from   HON.  HAMILTON   WARD,  OF    NEW  YORK. 

Washington,  D.  C,  Dec.  21,  1865. 
To  Hon.  E.  Geo.  Squier  and  others,  Committee  : 

Gentlemen  :  I  am  in  receipt  of  yours  of  the  20th,  in- 
viting me  to  attend  a  meeting  at  Cooper  Institute,  New 


71 

York  City,  on  tlie  evening  of  Jan.  6,  in  vindication  of  the 
"  Monroe  Doctrine." 

Circumstances  will  not  permit  my  attending,  as  it 
would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  do.  I  hope  there  will 
be  a  grand  outpouring  of  the  people  on  that  occasion. 
Give  the  "  Nephew  of  his  Uncle"  to  understand  that  as 
the  great  Napoleon  at  last  found  his  Waterloo,  he  too 
may  find  his  in  the  Halls  of  the  Montezumas. 

The  French  ruler  took  advantage  of  our  supposed  weak- 
ness, and  planted  upon  this  continent,  over  our  unwilling 
people,  a  monarchy,  in  bold  defiance  of  our  well-known 
and  cherished  national  policy  and  traditions.  However 
much  we  might  desire  peace  with  our  old  friend  across 
the  water,  this  act  of  France  places  us  in  the  position 
either  to  fight  it  out,  if  needs  be,  and  vindicate  our  pol- 
icy, or  tamely  submit  to  a  great  national  insult  and  wrong. 
The  people  are  of  but  one  opinion,  that  the  national  honor 
must  be  maintained.  Let  them  speak  out. 
Respectfully  yours, 

HAMILTON  WAED. 


FKOM   HON.    R.    W.    CLARKE. 

Washington  City,  Dec.  21,  1865. 
Hon.  E.  GrEO.  Squier,  Chairman,  &c. 


■■J 


Sir  :  I  have  received  your  notice  of  a  call  for  a  meet- 
ing to  be  held  Jan.  6,  1866,  at  the  great  hall  of  the 
Cooper  Institute,  New  York,  "/or  the  vindication  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine."  My  arrangements  will  not  permit  of 
my  attending  your  meeting;  but  be  assured  that  if  called 
upon  to  act  officially  upon  that  question,  I  shall  be  with 
you  most  heartily. 

Respectfully, 

R.   W.  CLARKE. 


FROM    HON,    HORACE    MAYNARD,    OF    TENNESSEE 

Washington,  Dec.  21,  1865. 
Gentlemen  :  Your  invitation  to  be  present  at  a  meet- 
ing in  the  Cooper  Institute,  on  the  6th  of  January  next, 
finds  me  on  the  eve  of  returnin":  to  Tennessee.     The  ob- 


72 

ject  of  tlie  meeting,  to  give  expression  to  the  general,  nay, 
universal,  public  sentiment,  popularly  known  astlie  "Mon- 
roe Doctrine,"  meets  my  unqualified  approval.  Let  the 
sentiment  find  expression  on  every  convenient  occasion, 
and  through  every  practicable  medium. 

It  has  been  assailed  on  both  continents  of  the  Western 
hemisphere,  and  it  is  high  time  it  were  authoritatively  as- 
serted. 

Very  respectfully, 

HORACE  MAYNARD. 
Hon.  E.  G.  Squier,  Chairman. 


FROM   HON.   SAMUEL   J.    RANDALL,    OF   PENNSYLVANIA. 

Philadelphia,  Jan.  1,  1866. 

Messrs.  Squier,   Viele,  Poston,  Duganne  and   Wheeloclc, 

Committee,  etc.  : 

Gentlemen:  Your  invitation  to  be  present  and  ad- 
dress a  public  meeting  in  New  York  City,  on  the  ^  6th  of 
January  next,  called  for  the  purpose  of  vindicating  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  has  been  received. 

I  regret  that  my  official  duties  will  prevent  its  accept- 
ance. 

I  have  always  supported  the  doctrine  you  wish  to  main- 
tain, and  have  so  voted  in  Congress.  I  am  prepared  to 
use  all  constitutional  means  to  carry  it  into  practical  force 
and  effect,  and  assume  any  responsibility  which  may  arise 
therefrom. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  your  obt.  servant, 

SAMUEL  J.  RANDALL.. 


FROM.    HON.   JAMES   H.  LANE,  U.  S.    SENATOR  FROM  KANSAS. 

Washington,  Wednesday,  Dec.  25,  1865. 

Gentlemen  :  Your  valued  favor  was  duly  received  ; 
and  in  answer,  I  regret  to  say  previous  engagements  will 
prevent  me  from  attending.  This  I  much  regret,  as  I  am 
on  the  record  as  an  advocate  of  a  firm  and  decided  policy 


73 

in  regard  to  resisting  tlie  great  conspiracy  of  imperialism 
to  overthrow  our  republican  form  of  government  on  this 
continent.  And  it  would  give  me  more  than  usual  pleas- 
ure, in  such  a  presence  as  that  of  a  New  York  audience, 
to  denounce  the  foreign  despots  who  dared  first  to  seduce 
part  of  our  people  from  the  path  of  duty,  and  then,  in 
the  midst  of  our  national  troubles,  to  plant  their  iron  heel 
on  the  neck  of  our  feeble  and  distressed  sister  Eepublic, 
Mexico.  You  may  rely  on  me  in  every  contingency  in 
the  future  for  peace  or  war. 

Kespectfully, 

J.  H.  LANE. 


LETTER    FROM    MAJ.-GEN.    MUSSEY. 

Washington,  D.  C,  Jan.  5,  1866. 
Hon.  E.  Geo.  Squier  &c..  New  York. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  I  am  very  reluctantly  compelled  at 
this  last  moment  to  decline  your  invitation  to  attend  the 
meeting  at  Cooper  Institute  to-morrow. 

I  regret  this  the  more  as  I  am  thoroughly  in  sympathy 
with  what  I  understand  to  be  the  object  of  the  meeting,  a 
public  declaration,  to  wit:  of  the  American  belief  that 
the  New  World  is  for  Eepublics,  and  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  United  States  to  enunciate  and  maintain  this 
belief. 

Since  the  triumphant  success  of  the  United  States  in 
the  late  rebellion,  republicanism  is  no  longer  an  open 
question. 

The  Eevolutionary  War  showed  that  a  Eepublic  could 
assert  itself  against  a  Monarchy  and  acquire  indepen- 
dence ;  the  war  of  1812  showed  that  it  could  maintain 
that  independence  as  against  outsiders  ;  the  late  war  has 
shown  that  it  can  maintain  it  as  against  the  turbulence 
and  sedition  of  the  malcontents  of  its  own  citizens,  aided 
by  the  moral  and  material  sympathy  of  allied  France  and 
England.  And  to  every  thinker  the  demonstration  is 
overwhelming  that  a  "  People's  Government"  is  the  most 
beneficent  in  Peace,  the  most  powerful  in  War,  and  the 
most  secure  against  Treason. 

This  success  has  brought  its  duty  with  it  for  us  to  per- 


74 

form,  and  it  is  a  duty  -wliicli  we  cannot  honorably  neglect 
or  evade. 

We  must  assert  the  truth  we  have  proved,  must  defend 
it  when  assailed,  and  encourage  it  when  of  feeble  growth. 

"  This  should  be  our  Foreign  policy,"  Anything  else 
misrepresents  us  and  dishonors  us.  If  necessary,  we 
should  maintain  this  belief  with  arms.  But  I  do  not 
think  any  nation  is  foolish  enough  to  court  war  with  us, 
and  our  request  will,  in  nearly  every  case  be  tantamount 
to  a  command,  and  when  we  do  command  we  shall  be 
obeyed. 

For  no  monarchy  can  afford  to  go  to  war  with  a  Ee- 
public,  demanding  the  recognition  of  republic  principles 
— since  our  national  success  has  weakened  every  throne 
and  strengthened  every  democratic  yearning  of  the  masses, 
upon  whom  thrones  are  built.  And  though  king's  and 
parliaments  may  order  war,  it  is  the  people  who  carry  the 
muskets  and  pay  the  taxas,  and  the  people  of  no^monar- 
chy  that  could  engage  in  war  with  us  would  submit  to 
the  burdens  of  a  war  against  their  and  our  cause. 

If  we  are  true  to  ourselves  we  shall  have  no  wars  upon 
this  account.  The  moral  sympathy  of  the  Government 
and  the  material  aid  of  our  citizens,  united,  will  give  to 
us  peace,  and  to  republicanism  all  the  support  it  needs. 

Believe  me  very  truly  your  friend, 

R.  D.  MUSSEY, 

Major-General. 

Mr.  Squire  then  read  the  following  resolutions  : 

RESOLUTIONS, 

Whereas,  It  was  early  declared,  with  a  solemnity  be- 
coming the  enunciation  of  a  great  principle,  by  a  President 
of  the  United  States,  whose  title  to  immortality  and  the 
gratitude  of  mankind  was  secured  by  its  annunciation, 
that  the  American  Continents,  by  the  free  and  indepen- 
dent positions  which  they  had  assumed  and  maintained, 
were  thenceforward  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for 
future  colonization  by  any  European  Power,  and  that  any 
attempt  by  European  Powers  to  "  extend  their  system  to 
any  portion  of  this  hemisphere  would  be  considered  as 
dangerous    to    our  peace  and  safety ;  and     Whereas,  it 


75 

was  equally  declared  that  any  interposition  by  any  Euro- 
pean Power,  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  the  Republics 
of  America,  whose  independence  the  United  States  had, 
with  great  consideration  and  just  principles,  acknowleged, 
or  for  the  purpose  of,  in  any  way,  controling  their  des- 
tinies, would  be  viewed  as  the  manifestations  of  an  un- 
friendly disposition  toward  the  United  States  ;  and 
Whereas,  in  open  contempt  of  the  princ%)les  thus  early 
laid  down,  France  has  interfered  to  oppress  our  sister  Re- 
public of  Mexico  and  to  control  its  destiny  against  the 
choice  of  its  people;  and  Whereas,  Spain  has  interfered 
to  extend  her  system  over  Hayti,  and  is  now  interfering  to 
op])ress  the  Republics  of  Chili  and  Peru;  therefore, 

Besolved,  That  the  United  States  is  bound,  by  her  tra- 
ditions, by  every  consideration  of  honor  and  dignity,  by 
her  plighted  faith  to  the  Republics  of  America,  for  the 
sake  of  her  safety,  peace,  prosperity  and  renown,  to  vin- 
dicate the  great  principles  enunciated  by  Munroe,  in  all 
parts  of  this  continent,  and  to  establish,  if  necessary,  by 
force  of  arms,  that  America  belongs  to  Americans,  and  is 
consecrated  to  republican  institutions. 

Resolved,  That  by  the  promulgation  of  the  "  Monroe 
Doctrine,"  and  its  constant  indorsement,  we  have  as- 
sumed a  responsibility  towards  our  sister  republics,  and  an 
obligation  to  defend  and  protect  them  which  it  would  be 
cowardly  and  dishonorable  to  neglect  or  repudiate. 

Besolved,  That  Ave  deplore  with  heartfelt  sorrow  the 
sudden  death  of  that  accomplished  statesman  and  noble 
and  eloquent  champion  of  republican  freedom  and  human 
progress,  Hon.  Henry  Winter  Davis,  of  Maryland,  who  had 
engaged  to  speak  to  us  to-night;  and  we  here  reassert  the 
language  and  sentiments  of  the  resolution  carried  by  him 
unanimously  through  the  House  of  Representatives,  in 
the  Winter  of  1864:  ''  The  United  States  are  unwilling 
by  their  silence  to  leave  the  nations  of  the  world  under  the 
impression  that  they  are  indifferent  spectators  of  the  de- 
plorable events  now  transpiring  in  the  republic  of  Mexico, 
and  that  they  therefore  think  fit  to  declare  that  it  does 
not  accord  with  the  policy  of  the  United  States  to  acknow- 
ledge any  monarchical  government  erected  on  the  ruins 
of  any  republican  government  in  America  under  the 
auspices  of  any  European  Power." 


76 


REMARKS   OF   MR.    TOMLINSON. 

Mr.  Tomlinson,  after   alluding  briefly  to  the  death   of 
Mr.  Davis,  traced  the  progress  of  Kepublicanism  from  the 
West  to  the  East,  and  showed  in  terras  of  bitterness  the 
conduct  of  Europe  and  the  continent  toward  the  United 
States  during  her  recent  struggle.     I  regret,  said  he,  that 
the  grave  has  taken  one  who  could  enlighten  you  on  these 
matters,  but  I  am  glad  that  the  first  meeting  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  this  great  cause  is  held  in  this  metropolis. 
History  shows  us  that  on  all  great   questions   great   men 
are  timid.     Cabinet  ministers  and  high  officials  wait   till 
the  common  people  speak,  and  then  are  ever  glad  to   ride 
them.     It's  the  picket  who  first  meets  the  shock  of  battle, 
and  it  may  be  a  proud  hour  for  you,  that  you  are  here  in 
the  first  of  this  movement  when   few  distinguished  men 
are  present  to  address  you.     I  want  to  say  a  few  words 
on  international  law.     There  is  no  such  thing  as   inter- 
national  law,  because  there   is   no  arbiter  of  law.     The 
conscience  of  the  people  is  the  arbiter.     Who  was  it  that 
expressed  the  international  law  when  the  Collossus  of  the 
East,  Russia,  stretched   its   hand   to  take  the   sick  man 
Turkey  from   his   bed  .^     The  express   messengers   were 
Campbell  and  Pellissier,  and  our  express   messengers  to 
Maximilian  will  be  McClellan,  Grant  and  Sherman.   [Ap- 
plause.]    Now  we  hear  that  our  Secretary  of  State  has 
gone  on  a  voyage  to  the  South,  and  probably  will  say  to 
Maximilian,  'the   thousand  things   that   would   not  look 
well  on  paper,  for  diplomacy,  you  know,  is  not  always  that 
which  can  be  put  on  record.     It  won't  do  for  us  to  per- 
mit the  planting  of  any  monarchy  on  our  shores.     There 
are  morarchists  enough  among  us   now  who  despise  our 
institutions,  and  would  gladly  hail  any  attempt  to  insti- 
tute such  a  government  here.      In  regard  to  the  Fenian 
question,  I  will  not   discuss   its   propriety  or  impulses  : 
the  latter   are   right.      But  if  I    could  say  anything  to 
Great  Britain,  I  should  say,  beware,  beware.      If  you  en- 
courage France  to  establish  a  monarchy  in  Mexico,  the 
green  flag  of  Ireland   shall  float  above    the    Irish  shore. 
[Applause.     A  voice — "  Oh,  nonsinse."] 

Mr.  Squier  then  read  the  following  resolutions  : 
Resolved,  That  the    Republic    of    Chili,  by  her    dig- 
nity, firmness,  and  courage,  as  well  as  by  her  moderation 
and  the  justice  of  her  cause,  in   her  contest  with  Spain, 


77 

provoked  by  an  attack  as  groundless  as  mercenary,  deserves 
llie  respect  and  sympathy  of  all  free  countries,  and  es- 
pecially of  the  United  States,  with  which  she  is  identi- 
fied by  community  of  institutions  and  by  every  considera- 
tion of  interest,  and  whose  gratitude  she  merits  as  a  warm 
and  devoted  friend  of  the  American  Union  in  the  hour  of 
its  greatest  peril. 

Resolved,  That  we  admire  the  spirit  and  enterprise  of 
the  little  navy  of  Chili,  and  rejoice  in  the  brilliant  success 
which  has  crowned  its  endeavors  in  its  contest  with  the 
arrogant  flotilla  of  Spain. 

Resolved,  That  the  glorious  example  of  Santo  Domingo 
and  the  final  triumph  of  the  heroism  and  patience  of  her 
sons,  should  sustain  and  encourage  the  American  repub- 
lics in  their  struggles  againt  foreign  aggression. 

REMARKS   OF   B.    VICUNA   MACKENNA. 

Citizens  of  the  United  States. — I  offer  you  my 
sincere  thanks  for  the  manner  in  which  you  have  received 
the  resolutions  which  have  been  presented  to  you  in  favor 
of  my  country.  Your  kind  sympathies,  your  enthusiastic 
applause,  show  that  you  have  comprehended  the  true  po- 
sition of  Chili  in  her  quarrel  with  Spain.  I  entertain  the 
hope,  therefore,  that  you  will  adopt  those  resolutions,  as 
an  act  of  justice  due  to  a  country  who  knows  how  to 
fight  for  her  honor  and  her  liberty,     (Applause.) 

But  permit  me  to  address  you,  not  as  a  man  occupying 
a  public  position,  of  any  nature  whatever,  but  as  one  of 
the  many  members  of  the  great  community  of  those  who 
love  liberty,  republicanism,  and  democracy. 

And  in  that  character,  it  is  right  that  I  should  tell  you 
that  there,  in  that  far  away  but  noble  land,  in  which  I 
was  born,  your  country  is  admired  and  loved,  as  you  ad- 
mire and  love  it;  that  there  we  learn  in  our  mothers'  laps 
to  repeat,  with  profound  reverence,  the  name  of  the  fixther 
of  your  institutions,  the  name  of  George  Washington — 
(applause);  that  there,  also,  the  young  motliers  of  to-day 
teach  their  children  in  the  cradle  to  pronounce  and  bless 
the  name  of  the  greatest  redeemer  that  ages  have  seen 
since  our  Saviour — the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  sa- 
cred and  glorious  memory.     (Prolonged  applause.) 


78 

But  at  the  same  time,  let  me  also  tell  you,  that  beyond 
your  southern  frontiers  there  exists  another  America,  sis- 
ter to  yours,  unknown  and  forgotten  by  you,  but  which,  if 
not  so  happy  or  so  powerful  as  your  country,  is  as  worthy 
of  your  esteem  and  respect  as  any  civilized  nation  of  the 
globe  whatever. 

You  well  know,  gentlemen,  that  calumny,  ignorance, 
and,  more  than  all,  the  secret  intrigues  of  European  Courts, 
and  of  their  emissaries,  have  combined  to  misrepresent  the 
existence  of  democracy  in  South  America,  and  to  nourish 
in  her  bosom  the  desolating  struggle  which  is  harassing 
her  republics,  without  exhausting  or  exposing  them  to 
death. 

Besides,  it  is  necessary  that  each  race  should  suffer  for 
its  original  sins,  and  work  out  its  own  salvation.  You 
had  in  the  robust  heart  of  your  country  the  seed  of  Africa, 
and  when  you  considered  yourselves  most  secure  in  the 
support  of  your  institutions,  of  your  peace,  and  your  pro- 
gress, there  broke  loose  upon  you  such  a  gigantic  rebellion 
as  the  world  had  never  seen. 

Another  such  has  happened  to  us.  We  had  in  our 
bosom  the  seed  of  Spain — the  country  of  Europe  which 
is  nearest  to  Africa  (applause  and  laughter) — and  there- 
fore we  have  struggled  for  half  a  century  to  exterminate 
the  roots  of  ignorance,  of  fanaticism,  and  of  pride,  and  to 
build  upon  their  ruins  the  foundation  of  a  republic.  You 
have  never  done  us  that  justice  of  comparison  according 
to  history  and  truth.  You  were  taught  by  your  own  nature, 
by  your  customs,  and  by  the  spirit  of  liberty  and  of  consci- 
enciousness  which  your  forefathers  brought  to  the  Rock  of 
Plymouth,  and  therefore  have  been  able  to  establish  and 
extend  your  powerful  republic,  your  invading  and  irresist- 
ible democracy.  But  who  were  our  teachers  in  the  diffi- 
cult science  of  self-government  ?  They  were,  gentlemen, 
those  haughty  conquerors  who  only  lived  to  cut  one 
another's  throats,  whose  only  delight  was  in  the  tumult  of 
battle,  and  who,  instead  of  giving  to  all  who  were  born, 
or  to  all  who  came  among  them,  the  plough  of  William 
Penn,  put  in  their  hands  the  fratricidal  sword  of  the 
Pizarros  and  of  Hernan  Cortes. 

But,  notwithstanding  that  recent  and  bloody  struggle 
of  the  republics  of  the  South,  what  does  it  prove,  except 
their  powerful  and  inextinguishable  vitality  ? 


79 

Behold,  gentlemen,  that  which  has  just  taken  place,  and 
yoii  will  be  convinced. 

There  existed  in  the  midst  of  the  Atlantic  an  island 
almost  obscure  and  forgotten,  which  ancient  feuds  had  ex- 
hausted, Spain,  always  blind  and  always  greedy,  be- 
lieved it  dead,  and  suddenly  and  traitorously  surrounded 
it  with  a  double  circle  of  bayonets  and  cannon.  And 
what  followed  ?  The  obscure  islanders  rose  like  heroes, 
ancient  feuds  were  forgotten,  und  the  hateful  flag  of 
Spain,  after  having  been  dragged  in  the  mire,  was  driven 
from  the  country  by  a  handful  of  brave  men,  before  the 
surprised  world,     (Applause.) 

It  was  afterwards  thought  necessary  to  organise  a  triple 
alliance  for  the  invasion  of  Mexico,  in  spite  of  the  internal 
feuds  which  had  exhausted  it.  But  the  canon  of  the  5th 
of  May  was  enough  to  dissolve  this  plot  ;  and  to-day,  after 
years  of  triumphs  and  defeats,  and  when  the  usurper 
boasted  of  having  pacified  the  land  which  rejected  him  by 
blood  and  fire,  the  noise  of  the  cannon  is  still  heard  upon 
the  banks  of  the  Eio  Grande,  as  an  echo  of  those  which 
resounded  in  the  Wilderness  and  at  Atlanta. 

And  farther  away,  in  Peru,  where  one  single  apostate 
sold  his  country  for  a  little  guano  and  a  little  gold,  you  will 
find  a  people  rising  against  the  traitor  and  the  shame — 
driving  out  the  former  with  ignominy,  and  showing  them- 
selves ready  again  to  combat  for  honor  and  right. 

And  with  respect  to  Chili.  .  .  .  But  permit  me  to  refrain 
from  speaking  of  my  country,  and  let  me  only  point  out  to 
you,  upon  that  flag  suspended  over  our  heads,  that  sol- 
itary star,  which  shines  out  so  brilliantly  from  the  blue 
which  surrounds  it.  That  star,  gentlemen,  is  the  emblem 
of  Chili ;  that  flag  is  the  flag  of  my  country — the  same 
flag  which,  not  long  ago,  floating  in  the  breeze  of 
victory,  ujion  the  mast  of  a  small  boat,  was  carried 
by  brave  hands  within  sight  of  the  powerful  squadron  of 
the  invaders,  and  there,  almost  within  reach  of  their  can- 
nons, made  the  proud  Castilians  lower  the  standard  of 
Isabel  II.  (Wild  applause,  the  greater  part  of  the  au- 
dience rising  to  their  feet,  waving  their  hats  and  handker- 
chiefs for  several  minutes,  shouting  vivas  and  hurrahs  for 
Chili.) 

And  still,  gentlemen,  remember  that  we  won  our  inde- 
pendence by  our  own  efforts,  without  the  aid  of  any  one. 
(Applause.)      Remember   that  all    Europe  opposed    our 


80 

emancipation,  and  we  won  it  notwithstanding.  Eemem- 
ber  that  you  yourselves  had,  by  the  side  of  your  stand- 
ard on  the  field  of  battle,  the  colors  of  France 
and  Spain,  while  we  had  only  our  own  national  ensign, 
and  all  others  were  enemies.  (Applause.)  Keraember, 
also,  that  alone  we  have  maintained  that  independence  for 
forty  years;  and,  while  Spain  during  the  present  century, 
has  appealed  three  times  to  a  stranger  to  sustain  her  own 
institutions — to  Wellington,  in  1808  ;  to  Angouleme,  in 
1823;  to  Sir  De  Lacy  Evans  and  the  English  legion,  in 
1834 — we  have  maintained  the  respect  of  our  enemies, 
without  submitting  ourselves  to  the  humiliation  of  seekers 
of  foreign  intervention. 

And  do  you  know  why  we  have  succeeded  in  all  this  ? 
Because  we  also,  gentlemen,  have  a  Monroe  Doctrine 
of  our  own.  But  it  is  not  such  a  Monroe  Doctrine 
as  you  have  been  proud  of  for  forty  years  ;  to  be  sustain- 
ed beneath  the  illuminated  vault  of  this  brilliant  hall; 
to  be  talked  of  by  great  orators,  or  by  the  voice  of  the 
daily  Press — but  a  practical  doctrine,  real,  to  be  sup- 
ported by  acts,  by  treaties,  by  alliances,  and  which,  un- 
like you,  we  have  always  defended  with  our  blood  and 
our  swords.     (Applause.) 

And  Chili,  gentlemen,  my  country,  I  am  proud  to 
say  is  the  republic  of  the  South  which  has  put  itself 
at  the  head  of  this  grand  and  generous  movement  of  bro- 
therhood in  glory  and  sacrifice.  It  was  Chili  who  sent 
aboard  of  one  of  her  men-of-war  a  diplomatic  agent  to  the 
shores  of  Central  America,  to  arrest  the  filibuster  Walker. 
It  was  Chili  who  defeated  the  expedition  of  Cristina  and 
Elores  against  Ecuador,  in  1846;  and  who,  years  after- 
wards, tore  down  the  altar  and  the  mask  of  the  French 
Protectorate  in  that  unfortunate  country.  It  was  Chili 
who  sent  her  gold  to  Mexico,  and  her  blood  to  Peru.  It 
was  Chili,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  with  all  the  frankness 
of  which  I  am  capable,  who  put  herself  in  opposition  to 
the  plans  of  an  administration  of  this  republic,  which 
perhaps  you  have  forgotten,  but  not  forgiven  yet,  and 
which  purposed  to  establish  a  spurious  American  protec- 
torate over  Ecuador,  on  condition  of  the  cession  of  the 
Galapagos  Islands  for  the  sum  of  $3,000,000. 

And  Chili  was  perfectly  right,  because,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  people  of  South  America,  the  Monroe  Doctrine  does 


81 

not  mean  conquest  witliout  rif!;ht,  invasion  without  jus- 
tice; does  not  mean  aught  but  respect  for  national- 
ities which  God  has  created,  or  their  institutions,  with- 
out any  consideration  whatever  for  those  who  intend  to 
attack  them,  or  for  those  who  intend  to  protect  them. 

Yes,  gentlemen,  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  as  we  understand 
it,  is  a  vital  and  absolute  principle,  not  a  passing  in- 
terest of  policy.  It  is  not  a  question  of  geography,  in- 
volved in  that  popular  quotation,  America  for  Americans. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  frontiers  and  territories,  by  which 
this  or  that  State  may  extend  itself  at  the  expense  of 
another.  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  the  foundation  of  inter- 
national right  in  America  ;  and  in  that  I  differ  entirely 
with  the  eloquent  orator  who  has  preceded  me,  because 
Republican  and  Democratic  America  has  a  theory  of  her 
own  about  existence  and  extension,  just  as  the  monarchies 
of  Europe  have  their  doctrines  of  equilibrium  and  of  dig- 
nities, and  the  foundation  of  that  theory  is  the  Monroe 
Doctrine. 

This  principle  is  not,  then,  simply  our  own,  but  that 
which  its  glorious  founder,  James  Monroe,  meant  it  to 
be;  and  that  which  his  noble  sustainer  of  to-day,  Andrew 
Johnson,  has  clearly  implied  he  means  it  to  be  ;  that  is  to 
say,  that  the  monarchical  Governments  of  Europe  will  not 
be  permitted  to  interfere  with  republican  institutions  in 
the  New  World. 

Gentlemen,  that  Power  which  created  the  strip  of  land 
which  unites  the  two  continents  of  America  in  one  single 
world,  one  day  inspired  a  great  man  of  the  North  with 
this  theory  of  general  salvation.  That  day  the  key  of  the 
golden  problem  of  democracy  was  discovered,  the  mon- 
archs  of  Europe  trembled  upon  their  falling  thrones,  the 
freemen  of  the  New  world  showed  the  slaves  of  the  Old 
where  the  sacred  ark  ought  to  rest  after  the  flood,  and 
over  the  sky  of  a  new  cycle,  and  beyond  the  clouds,  the 
hands  of  Washington  and  Bolivar  clasped  over  the  strug- 
gle of  general  emancipation,  united  the  two  worlds  in  one, 
to  form  a  kingdom  of  eternal  glory  and  eternal  liberty. 

Let  that  doctrine  of  redemption,  gentlemen,  be  sustain 
ed,  let  it  be  propagated,  let  it  be  vindicated.     Let  your  men 
of  the  government,  or  your  men  of  war  on  the  field  of  bat- 
tle, carry  out  this  work  of  redemption.  Let  the  voice  of  Rome 
be  heard  once  more  from  the  dome  of  your  high  Capitol,  and 

6 


.      82 

thus,  like  the  household  word  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  which 
was — Justice  and  liberty  for  the  oppressed,  may  the  house- 
hold word  of  Andrew  Johnson  be — Justice  and  liberty  for 
the  aggressed. 

Senor  Mackenna  concluded  his  address  amid  a  perfect 
storm  of  applause. 

Mr.  Squier  then  read  the  following  resolution ; 

Resolved,  That  in  Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the 
United  States,  we  recognise  a  statesman  and  patriot,  a 
noble  illustration  of  the  fostering  influence  of  republican 
institutions,  a  man  of  the  people,  deeply  sympathizing 
with  oppressed  humanity  at  home  and  abroad,  and  who 
will,  with  firmness,  prudence,  and  dignity,  and  in  case  of 
ultimate  resort  with  all  of  his  energies  as  a  man  and  as 
President,  dedicate  himself  to  the  vindication  of  those 
great  national  principles  enunciated  by  our  fathers  as  es- 
sential to  our  peace  and  safety,  and  among  which  the 
"  Monroe  Doctrine  "  is  one  of  the  most  vital,  and  at  this 
moment  of  first  and  practical  importance. 

SPEECH    OF    S.    S.    cox. 

Mr.  S.  S.  Cox  was  then  introduced,  and  spoke  long  and 
tenderly  of  Mr.  Winter  Davis,  with  whom  he  served  in 
the  last  Congress.  The  Monroe  Doctrine  has  never  yet 
been  backed  by  the  force  of  this  great  republic  ;  sooner  or 
later  the  force  of  this  people  will  be  evoked  in  the  enun- 
ciation of  the  doctrine.  We  should  not  forget  that  the 
people  of  all  these  little  republics  are  waiting  anxiously 
for  our  movement.  I  trust  tlie  first  thing  to  be  done,  after 
Mr,  Seward  is  convinced  he  cannot  write  Maximilian  out 
of  Mexico,  will  be  the  convocation  of  another  Congress  of 
Eepublics  at  Panama,  including  the  Eepublic  of  Cuba, 
and  that  there  the  great  nations  of  Europe  may  receive  a 
lesson.  Our  unfortunate  troubles  came  North  and  South, 
and  Europe  crept  in,  sneaked  in  by  a  triple  alliance, 
and  backed  up  this  Archduke  of  the  hated  house  of  Haps- 
burg,  tyrants  of  a  hundred  years.  This  thing  will  all  be 
settled  in  time.  I  know  that  if  we  had  taken  decided 
steps  in  time,  this  trouble  would  have  been  settled  ere 
this.  Had  we  taken  the  advice  of  Ministers  McLane  and 
Corwin,  the  troubles  would  not  have  happened.  Now, 
thank  God,  our  own  troubles  are  ended.  Thirty  millions 
of  people  reunited,  as  I  trust  and  believe  we  are  united. 


'  83 

can  do  a  great  deal.  We  can  put  an  army  of  a  million  of 
men  into  the  field,  and  know  how  to  use  them  when  there. 
(Applause.)  But  I  rose  eimply  to  say  a  few  words  about 
my  friend  and  co-laborer,  Davis,  who  cannot,  as  he  hoped 
be  with  you  here  to-night;  and  heartily  sharing  with  you 
the  appreciation  of  his  noble  nature,  I  thank  you  for  your 
kind  and  patient  attention,  and  retire. 

The  meeting  was  then  adjourned,  subject  to  the  call  of 
he  Chair 


BANQUET 

GIVKN  TO  THE 

REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  PRESS  OF  NEW  YORK, 

AND    TO    THE 

Members  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps  of  Soutli  America 

RESIDENT  IN  THIS  CITY. 


On  Wednesday  the  sixth  of  December,  there  took 
place  in  the  splendid  "  Salon  Bleu"  of  "  Delmonico's  " 
restaurant,  the  sumptuous  banquet  with  which  the  confi- 
dential agent  of  Chile  in  the  United  States,  Don  Benja- 
min Vicuna  Mackenna,  entertained  thp.  most  notable 
journalists  of  New  York  and  the  members  of  the  Diploma- 
tic Corps  of  South  America  resident  there. 

The  saloon  in  which  the  banquet  took  place  was  ele- 
gantly adorned  with  the  flags  of  Chili,  the  United  States 
and  Peru. 

The  seat  of  honor  at  the  table  was  occupied  by  Senor 
Vicuna  Mackenna.  At  his  right  sat  Senor  Bruzual,  the 
Minister  of  Venezuela  in  the  United  States,  and  at  his 
left  the  Minister  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  Don  Domingo 
F.  Sarmiento.  At  the  opposite  end  sat  George  Squier, 
Esq.,  ex-Minister  of  the  United  States  to  Central  America, 
and  on  either  side  of  him  the  Seiiores  Navarro,  Consul 
General  of  Mexico,  and  Fleury,  Secretary  of  the  Brazilian 
Legation.  There  assisted  besides  at  the  Banquet,  as 
representatives  of  the  various  States  of  the  South  Ameri- 
can Republics,  the  greater  part  of  those  who  are  accredited 
to  the  United  States,  and  who  reside  accidentally  or  per- 
manently in  New  York. 

Among  them  were  noted  as  representatives  of  Mexico,  the 
Seiiores  Navarro,  General  Sanchez  Ochoa,  and  Seiior  Baz, 


85 

ex-Governor  of  Mexico.  As  representatives  of  Cuba, 
Senor  Santacilia,  the  celebrated  poet  and  Cuban  states- 
man, son-in-law  of  President  Juarez,  and  Seiior  Don  Juan 
Manuel  Macias.  Santo  Domingo  was  represented  by  Sr. 
Dr.  Bazora,  Charge  d' Affaires  of  that  Eepublic  in  the  JJ. 
States  ;  Venezuela  by  her  Minister  to  Washington,  Senor 
Bruzual,  and  by  the  Consul-Greneral  of  the  same  Repub- 
lic, Don  Simon  Camacho,  nephew  of  the  liberator  Boli- 
var ;  Brazil  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Brazilian  Legation  at 
Washington,  Seiior  Fleury  ;  Peru  by  the  confidential 
agent  of  that  Republic,  Sr.  Don  Mariano  Alvarez  ;  the 
Argentine  Republic,  by  Seiior  Sarmiento  ;  and  lastly 
Chili,  by  the  Seiiores  Vicuiia  Mackenna,  Aldunate,  and 
her  Consul  in  New  York,  Dr.  Rodgers. 

Among  the  most  notable  Journalists  of  New  York, 
we  will  notice  Mr.  Wilkes,  the  editor  of  various  journals 
published  in  this  city,  and  a  gentleman  of  distinguished 
ability  and  social  position  ;  Buckingham  Smith,  Esq., 
Frank  Leslie,  Esq.,  and  Mr.  Starr,  Editor  of  that  part  of 
the  Herald  devoted  to  South  American  affairs. 

There  were  present,  also,  among  other  distinguished 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  the  Hon.  E.  George  Squier, 
late  Minister  of  the  United  States  to  Central  America, 
Dr.  Mackay,  Sub-Secretary  in  the  Cabinet  at  Washington, 
charged  with  the  diplomatic  relations  of  the  United 
States  in  the  Spanish- American  Republics,  Messrs.  Fabri, 
Italian  Bankers  and  Agents  of  the  Italian  Government, 
Mr.  Chauncey,  of  the  firm  of  Fabri  &  Chauncey,  Mr. 
Plumb,  the  well-known  writer  upon  Mexico,  and  other 
gentlemen  no  less  distinguished. 

The  dinner  commenced  at  half-past  six  P.M.  The  table 
was  sumptuous,  and  the  service  left  nothing  to  be  desired. 
Mr.  Delmonico  displayed  once  more  the  resources  of  his 
art,  and  that  exquisite  taste  which  has  given  to  his  es- 
tablishiaent  the  reputation  of  being  the  first  restaurant  of 
New  York. 

After  an  hour  of  lively  conversation,  devoted,  as  was 
natural,  to  testimonials  to  the  exquisite  flavor  of  the 
viands,  Mr.  Squier  gave  the  first  toast,  proposing  a  gen- 
eral glass  in  honor  of  Senor  Vicuna  Mackenna,  who  pre- 
sided over  the  table.  In  reply,  Senor  Vicuna  Mackenna 
proposed  a  toast  in  honor  of  the  Press  of  the  United 
States.     He  said  that  although  in  other  countries,  in  the 


86 

present  condition  of  the  human  race,  the  press  was  a 
power,  in  the  United  States  it  had  attained  the  character 
of  a  true  public  institution,  without  which,  the  Republic 
could  not  exist ;  that  in  his  opinion,  the  press  had  done 
more  to  put  down  the  rebellion  in  the  South  than  the 
armies  of  the  North,  in  that  while  they  were  sometimes 
defeated  and  destroyed,  the  press  had  never  been  con- 
quered. In  conclusion,  he  recalled  the  observation  of 
Miguel  Chevalier,  who  by  himself  alone  characterized  the 
role  of  the  press  of  this  country.  It  is  known  that  in  his 
travels  through  the  United  States,'wherever  he  saw  a  vil- 
lage (to-day  a  city,)  that  even  where  there  were  only  three 
houses,  one  of  them  was  a  bank,  the  other  a  school,  and 
the  third  a  printing-office. 

Mr.  Wilkes,  as  the  Deacon  of  the  Journalists  present, 
replied  to  the  toast  of  Seiior  Vicuna  Mackenna,  asking  a 
unanimous  glass  to  be  drank  standing,  to  "  Heroic  Chili." 
Three  hurrahs  resounded  at  the  termination  of  the  enthu- 
siastic toast  of  Mr.  Wilkes.  The  next  toast  was  given  by 
Senor  Bruzualwho,  in  a  patriotic  speech,  happily  de- 
veloped the  idea  that  the  American  Republics,  free  since 
the  war  for  their  independence,  ought  to  strengthen  them- 
selves by  breaking  the  only  ties  which  bind  them  to  Spain 
— preoccupation  and  inattention  to  other  ideas  than. those 
which  the  Revolution  had  given  birth  to,  thus  destroying 
for  ever  European  influence  in  America. 

Seiior  Sarmiento,  alluding  to  the  previous  toast,  said 
that  the  Republic  of  the  United  States,  like  a  colossal 
iron-clad,  was  sailing  towards  the  future,  and  that  the 
Republics  of  South  America,  taking  advantage  of  the  tran- 
quil wake  which  she  leaves,  will  follow  closely. 

Seiior  Bazora  gave  a  succinct  account  of  the  war  of 
Santo  Domingo  and  Spain,  and  after  showing  that  the 
Dominicans  had  only  calculated  upon  their  heroism  to  com- 
bat with  an  army  strong  and  full  of  resources,  concluded, 
expressing  his  conviction  that  Chili  would  do  as  much, 
and  would  know  how  to  put  an  end  to  the  pretensions  of 
Spain. 

Sefior  Santacilia  drank  the  next  toast,  that  Cuba 
would  soon  add  to  the  number  of  American  Republics, 
thus  assuming  the  position  destined  for  her  by  nature, 
topography,  history  and  race. 

Senor   Macias — That  the  solitary  star  of  Cuba,  dark- 


87 

ened  to-day  by  the  cloud  of  slavery,  will  soon  shine,  illu- 
minated by  the  splendor  of  that  of  Chili. 

In  continuation,  Seiior  Baz  gave  the.  toast  in  honor  of 
Mexico — as  a  people  who,  after  a  triple  invasion,  continued 
to  combat  their  enemy  with  firmness  and  energy,  surround- 
ing him  in  their  strong  places  ;  and  in  honor  of  Juarez  as 
the  guiding  star.  The  toast  was  received  with  enthu- 
siasm and  drank  standing. 

Messrs.  Rodgers,  Mackie,  Evans,  and  Squier  drank 
in  turn  to  Chili,  her  hospitality,  her  progress,  and  the 
noble  and  dignified  conduct  observed  in  the  present  ques- 
tion with  Spain. 

Mr.  Squier  proposed  a  toast  in  honor  of  General  Prim, 
that  great,  sagacious  man,  he  said,  who  had  foreseen  the 
events  of  which  America  was  going  to  be  the  theatre,  and 
in  accordance  with  the  nobleness  of  his  character,  had  has- 
tened to  retire  from  the  scene. 

Lastly,  Seiior  Vicuiia  Mackenna  gave  a  toast  in 
honor  of  Italy  and  G-aribaldi.  He  remembered  that  that 
nation  was,  through  her  democratic  sentiments,  the  sin- 
cere friend  of  America,  and  cited  Graribaldi  as  the  only 
European  able  to  Tepresent  in  himself,  to  the  New  and 
Old  World,  one  who  had  fought  for  the  liberty,  of  both. 
This  last  toast  was  replied  to  by  Mr.  Fabri  in  a  manner 
as  brief  as  eloquent,  and  the  hour  being  already  advanced, 
the  guests  repaired  to  the  saloon,  where  coffee  and  liquors 
were  served,  remaining  in  pleasant  conversation  until  12 
o'clock,  at  which  hour  they  departed. 

In  allusion  to  this  Banquet,  the  "  Herald"  says  on  the 
followinf;c  morninj;:  : — 

"  Last  Wednesday  evening,  Sefior  Vicuna  Mackenna, 
Special  Envoy  from  the  Republic  of  Chili  to  the  United 
States,  entertained  various  distinguished  persons  from 
South  America  and  the  representatives  of  the  press  of 
New  York,  with  a  splendid  dinner  at  "  Delmonico's"  res- 
taurant,  in  Fifth  Avenue. 

"  Amonj::  the  jruests  were — Sefior  Bruzual,  the  Minister 
of  Venezuela;  Sefior  Navarro,  Consul-General  of  Mexico; 
General  Sanchez  Ochoa  ;  Sefior  Baz,  Governor  of  Mexico  ; 
Dr.  Basora,  of  Santo  Domingo  ;  Sefior  Alvarez,  Confiden- 
tial Agent  of  Peru  ;  Sefior  Santacilia  ;  Sefior  Fleury,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Brazilian  Legation  ;  Dr.  Rodgers,  the 
Chilian  Consul  in  New  York  ;   Mr.  Squier,  ex-Minister  of 


88 

the  United  States  to  Central  America  ;  Dr.  Mackie,  for- 
merly employed  in  the  Department  of  State  at  Washing- 
ton ;  George  Wilkes,  Esq.,  Frank  Leslie,  Esq.,  and  the 
representatives  of  the  Herald. 

"  The  dining-room  was  decorated  with  the  flags  of 
the  United  States,  Chili,  and  Peru,  gracefully  arranged 
at  either  end  of  the  table.  Delmonico,  the  prince  of  res- 
taurateurs, displayed  all  the  taste  and  exquisite  skill  of 
his  art. 

"In  reply  to  the  various  particular  toasts  of  the  guests, 
Senor  Vicuiia  Mackenna,  Messrs.  Squier  and  Wilkes, 
Seriores  Bruzual,  Mackie,  Navarro,  and  others,  pronounced 
eloquent  speeches.  The  principal  theme  of  the  remarks  of 
those  gentlemen  was  a  strong  protest  against  foreign  in- 
tervention in  the  affairs  of  America,  especially  with  rela- 
tion to  Chili  and  Mexico — "  Europe  for  Europeans,"  and 
the  base  of  all  the  sentiments  expressed  was  a  desire  that 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  should  be  strictly  maintained,  from 
the  Kio  Grande  to  Cape  Horn.  The  enthusiasm  and  elo- 
quence of  the  guests  kept  the  party  together  until  nearly 
midnight." 


THE 

UNION"  LEAGUE  CLUB. 


EEMAEKS  OF  B.  YICUNA  MAOKENNA 

ON    THE 

Telegraph,    of  South.    America. 


Oa  Thursday  ereninc^,  6th  December,  the  New  York 
Union  League  Club  held  its  regular  monthly  meeting,  and 
after  P.  McD.  Collins,  Enterpriser  of  the  Telegraph  round 
the  World,  had  delivered  his  address,  already  known  to  the 
public,  ths  Hon.  Vicuna  Mackenna,  from  Chili,  who  ac- 
cidentally was  among  the  numerous  guests,  was  introduced 
by  Mr.  Blunt,  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  Club,  as  a 
representative  of  the  heroic  Republic  of  Chili,  who  so 
bravely  maintained  her  rights  against  old  and  proud  Spain 
— a  cause  dear  to  all  the  American  people.  (Great  ap- 
plause.) Mr.  Blunt  further  remarked  that  England  had 
come  forward  to  the  support  of  Chili  for  the  same  reason 
that  she  supported  the  rebellion — for  copper.    (Laughter.) 

Mr.  Vicuna  Mackenna  having  been  loudly  cheered,  said 
that  he  thanked  the  gentlemen  of  the  meeting  for  the  pro- 
found and  noble  sympathy  shown  by  them  for  his  country, 
and  himself  personally  ;  that  he  did  not  propose  to  deliver 
an  address,  as  he  found  himself  unprepared  for  such  an 
occasion,  having  come  there  only  to  hear  the  wonders  of 
the  telegraph  ;  that  had  he  known  he  would  have  been 
called  upon  to  speak,  he  would  have  been  prepared  to  say 
something  worthy  of  the  attention  of  so  many  distinguished 
gentlemen.  But  as  Mr.  Collins,  in  his  eloquent  address, 
had  mentioned  his  country  several  times  with  the  applause 
of  the  assembly,  he  desired  to  be  allowed  to  say  that  when 


90 

Secretary  Seward  addressed  the  goveraments  of  several  na- 
tions in  behalf  of  Mr,  Collins'  scheme,  the  government  of 
his  country  was  the  first  to  answer  the  invitation,  and 
offered  its  support  to  Mr.  Collins,  as  Chili  was  fond  of 
telegraphs,  and  of  everything  that  meant  progress.  (Ap- 
plause.) That  they  had  more  than  one  thousand  miles  of 
telegraph  wire  already  laid  out  in  the  country  before  the 
war  with  Spain  commenced  ;  but  that  as  soon  as  war  was 
declared  by  Admiral  Pareja,  the  Chilians  replied  to  his 
dastardly  attack  somewhat  as  Columbus  did  to  the  Inqui- 
sition of  Salamanca  when  they  wanted  to  prevent  his  com- 
ing to  discover  this  continent — ordering  one  thousand 
miles  more  of  telegraph  Avire  to  be  run  for  the  internal  de- 
fense of  the  country.     (Applause.) 

He  further  remarked -that  Chili,  south  of  Panama,  was 
the  only  country  in  South  America  fitted  for  the  Collins 
telegraph  passing  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic,  over 
the  Pampas  of  Buenos  Ayres  ;  that  this  part  of  the  line 
could  be  easily  made  in  three  or  four  months,  as  it  was 
only  one  third  of  the  length  of  the  overland  line  to  Califor- 
nia, constructed,  through  the  perseverance  of  Mr.  Collins, 
in  five  months  ;  that  already  the  building  of  two  railways 
was  contemplated,  to  cross  the  Pampas  from  Chili  to  La 
Plata — the  northern  line  from  Copiapo  to  Eosario,  on  the 
Parana  River,  and  the  other  from  Curico  south  to  Buenos 
Ayres  ;  that  two  enterprising  Americans  were  the  promo- 
ters of  these  grand  projects — the  well-known  Mr.  Wheel- 
wright, of  Newburyport,  of  the  northern  line,  and  Henry 
Meiggs,  of  California,  of  the  southern  line.  Greneral  Mitre, 
the  enlightened  and  patriotic  president  of  the  Argentine 
Eepublic,  a  man  who  will  stand  forth  prominently  among 
the  patriots  of  South  America,  had  offered  his  warmest 
support  to  Mr.  Meiggs'  idea,  believing  that  the  best 
frontier  against  the  wild  Indian  of  the  Pampas  would 
be  an  iron  track,  which  would  thus  spare  the  Argentine 
Republic  the  expense  and  the  danger  of  maintaining  six 
thousand  soldiers  to  protect  that  part  of  the  country  from 
the  raids  of  the  savages.  The  orator  added  that  another 
engineer,  an  American,  too — Mr.  Goldsborough — had  laid 
before  the  Chilian  Government  a  plan  to  build  a  subma- 
rine telegraph  from  Panama  to  Valparaiso,  running  from 
port  to  port,  on  the  line  of  the  English  steamers  of  the 
South  Pacific. 


91 

Apropos  of  English  commerce  and  enterprise  in  the 
South  Pacific,  Mr.  Vicuna  Mackenna  observed,  that  not 
a  single  mercantile  steam  vessel,  carrying  the  American 
flag,  had  been  seen  south  of  Panama  for  years,  and  that 
through  the  fault  of  the  Americans,  that  splendid  field  of 
commerce  had  been  monopolized  by  the  English  since 
1842,  who  maintained  there  a  fine  fleet  of  twenty  or  thirty 
steamers.  He  further  observed  that  the  Chilians  would  be 
grateful  to  England  for  having  come  to  their  relief  in  the  war 
with  Spain ;  because,  although  Mr.  Blunt,  in  rather  a  blunt 
manner  (laughter),  remarked  that  England  was  prompted 
in  that  case  by  her  copper  interest,  still,  no  matter  why, 
she  was  sustaining  their  rights,  and  they  would  feel  grateful 
to  any  country  for  coming  forward  from  the  same  motive. 

The  speaker  further  observed  that,  although  Chili  was 
a  great  copper  country,  the  Chilians  were  not  copperheads. 
(Applause  and  laughter.)  He  advised  the  Americans  to 
study  the  South  American  countries,  especially  Chili,  to 
change  their  false  policy  towards  them,  and  to  go  and  see 
what  they  are.  "  Don't  argue,"  he  said,_  "  that  our 
doors  are  shut  now,  because  if  you  go  you  will  find  some 
fair  hand  to  open  them.  And  then,  gentlemen,  if  they  are 
still  shut,  since  you  built  the  '' Monnadnock "  and  the 
"  Dunderberg,"  you  have  in  your  hands  the  keys  of  the 
world."     (Applause.) 

As  in  the  course  of  his  address,  Mr.Collins,  in  a  very 
pictorial  manner,  said  that  he  purposed  to  enclose  South 
America  with  a  kind  of  North  American  lasso,  in  the  form 
of  a  circular  telegraph,  Mr.  Vicuna  Mackenna  closed  his 
remarks  with  the  following  words,  which  were  enthusiasti- 
cally received  by  the  assembly  :— I  hope  the  day  will  come 
soon  when  the  lasso  of  progress  will  enclose  all  the  South 
American  Republics,  each  one  coming  forward  insupport 
of  Mr.  Collins'  enterprise.  But  allow  me  to  remind  you, 
gentlemen,  that  there  is  a  yet  more  glorious  and  ancient 
lasso  which  binds  the  two  continents  of  America  in  a  sin- 
gle world  of  liberty  and  democracy,  and  that  South  Amer- 
ican and  North  American  lasso  is  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 
(Great  applause.) 

Allow  me  further  to  say,  that  in  South  America  we  un- 
derstand the  Monroe  Doctrine  to  be,  not  an  empty  word- 
not  a  platform  word — not  a  newspaper  word— we  under- 
stand it  as  two  great  men  of  this  country  understand  it 


92 

as  Geaeral  Sohenck  uaderstands  it  ia  Congress,  cand  as 
General  G-rant  understands  it  on  the  field  of  battle  :  I 
mean  to  say  that  we  understand  it  at  the  mouth  of  the 
cannon.     (Renewed  and  great  applause.) 

A  vote  of  thanks  was  unanimously  passed  to  the  speaker; 
and  further,  that  his  address  should  be  printed  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  Club.     The  meeting  then  adjourned. 

The  New  Yoik  Tribune,  of  December  15th,  gives  the 
following  account  of  the  proceedings  of  that  session  of  the 
New  York  Union  League  Club  : 

"  Last  evening,  the  regular  monthly  meeting  of  the 
Union  League  Club  was  held  at  their  rooms  in  East  Seven- 
teenth iStre'et,  Charles  Butler,  Esq.,  presiding. 

After  the  transaction  of  business,  Mr.  P.  McD.  Collins 
was  introduced,  and  delivered  the  same  lecture  which  he 
read  before  the  Travelers'  Club  on  the  8th  of  November. 

Senor  Don  Benjamin  Vicuna  Mackenna,  Special  Envoy 
from  Chili,  was  then  introduced,  who  spoke  as  follows  : 

Gentlemen — x\fter  hearing  such  an  eloquent  lecture, 
on  a  subject  so  interesting  to  the  world,  and  by  a  man  so 
superior  in  intelligence,  I  think  I  am  justified  in  saying 
that  your  kindness  in  calling  on  me  to  speak  amounts 
almost  to  cruelty. 

But  as  Mr.  Collins  has  mentioned  in  his  lecture  the 
name  of  my  country,  and  I  find  myself  among  gentlemen 
whom  I  consider  friends  of  Chili,  I  venture  to  say  that  that 
country  was  the  first  in  South  America  to  ofi'er  its  cordial 
and  eftective  support  to  the  great  idea  of  encircling  the 
world  with  the  telegraph.  While,  in  fact,  by  its  geograph- 
ical position.  Chili  is  in  want  of  such  a  means  of  short- 
ening distances,  the  telegraph  will  benefit  it  more  than  any 
other  nation,  owing  to  its  exclusion  by  nature  from  inter- 
course with  other  nations.  Chili  is  fond  of  telegraphs— is 
fond  of  everything  that  brings  progress.  (Applause.)  We 
had  our  pivot  line  of  telegraphs  in  1850,  and  now  we  have 
the  whole  country  spanned  by  them. 

A  line  has  been  proposed  from  Panama  to  Valparaiso. 
Chili  is  the  only  country  through  which  telegraph  lines 
could  go  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean. — 
It  will  not  be  adventurous  to  say  that  this  line  will  soon 
be  completed. 

I  hope  these  facts  will  induce  some  of  your  enterprising 
men  to  study  it,  and  invest  their  capital. 


93 

Seuor  Mackenna  alluded  to  tlie  monopolizing  of  the 
commerce  of  Chili  hy  England,  a  fact  which  he  hoped 
would  not  long  continue. 

The  speaker  ended  with  a  brilliant  allusion  to  the  Monroe 
doctrine.  Its  vital  principle  was  the  power  which  bound 
together  the  republics  of  this  continent,  and  without  which 
they  could  not  exist.  He  hoped  the  time  would  come  when 
it  would  be  enunciated  not  only  by  editors  and  orators,  but 
by  such  men  as  General  Grant  and  General  Schenck 
through  the  mouth  of  the  cannon.  (Immense  applause.) 

A  vote  of  thanks  to  Seiior  Mackenna  was  passed  una- 
nimously." 


ABE  AH  AM  LINOOLISr. 


To  the  Eon.  Thomas  H.  Nelson^  Minister  Plenipotentiary  and  Envoy  Ex- 
traordinary from  the  United  States  of  America  to  Chili.,  as  a  slight 
testimony  of  sincere  friendship  and  profound  sympathy  with  him  in  his 
just  sorrow  for  the  irreparable  loss  suffered  by  America  in  the  death 
of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  sixteenth  President  of  the  United 
States. 

"  Oae  mournful  wail  is  heard  from  shore  to  shore. 
A  Isation's  heart  is  stricken  to  the  core  ; 
And  Freedom,  kneeling  with  uncovered  head, 
Weeps  by  the  altar  of  Our  Countnj's  Dead." 

Albert  Evans — On  the  Death  of  President  Lincoln. 


A  sadden  and  overwhelming  calamity  has  befallen 
America  ! 

The  bells  of  all  the  cities  have  tolled  mournfully; 
the  flags  of  all  nations  have  been  draped  with  the  habili- 
ments of  woe  ;  all  countenances  display  deep  anguish; 
days  of  humiliation,  fasting  and  prayer  have  been  observed 
by  all  creeds — in  a  word,  it  may  be  said,  without  hyper- 
bole, that  the  world  discovered  by  Columbus  has  been 
overwhelmed  with  grief. 

And  wherefore  ? 

Is  it  perchance  that  tidings  of  some  unheard-of  catas- 
trophe have  been  received  at  the  same  time  throughout  all 
countries  ?  Of  fire,  shipwreck,  pestilence,  overwhelming 
inundations  ?  What  fearful  plague  has  the  wrath  of 
Heaven  let  loose  upon  the  earth  ?     Alas  !  it  is  none  of 


95 

these  -which  make  men's  hearts  grow  faint  and  their  fore- 
heads bow  low  beneath  the  cliastening  rod!  The  hor- 
ror of  all  that  is  about  us  has  effaced  from  our  minds 
horror  itself.  And  therefore  it  is  that  the  most  sanguin- 
ary battles  fail  to  agonize  the  soul,  that  the  martyrdom  of 
a  people  in  one  grand  conflagration  does  not  receive  the 
poor  tribute  of  a  memorial  stone,  and  that  the  sudden 
disappearance  of  a  city  reduced  to  atoms  causes  neither 
dread  nor  wonder.  Man  of  the  present  day,  placed  in  the 
vast  camp  of  ruins  called  life,  seems  more  wonder-stricken 
at  his  own  existence  than  at  the  unceasing  destruction  of 
all  created  things,  as  he  sees  'opening  before  his  feet,  ever 
brilliant,  ever  fleeting,  like  the  {g7iis  fatuus,  that  other 
chimera,  the  smiling  mask  of  death — styled  futu7nty. 

What,  then,  has  occurred  ? 

Alas  !  That  which  has  caused  this  deep,  instanta- 
neous, irrepressible  sorrow  in  the  hearts  of  all  men — that 
which  has  made  the  old  man,  the  child  and  the  maiden 
alike  leave  their  dwellings  in  search  of  the  sad  tidings — 
that  which  has  clothed  all  cities  in  mourning,  and  trans- 
formed the  whole  of  America,  moved  by  one  common  sen- 
timent, into  one  single  altar  for  public  prayer,  into  one 
sepulchre — is  the  death  of  an  Honest  Man  ! 

II. 

Yes  ;  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  one  of  those  great  and 
terrible  beings  known  in  history  as  Caesar  and  Hannibal, 
Charlemagne  and  iS^apoleon.  His  shoulders  knew  no 
robes  more  regal  than  the  simple  dress  of  a  citizen  ;  no 
crown  encircled  his  forehead,  save  the  sweat  of  rude  and 
honest  toil  ;  his  arm  wielded  no  other  weapon  than  the 
axe  which  felled  the  forest  trees,  thf^t  the  ground  they 
shaded  might  yield  the  sweet  fruits  of  the  earth.  He  was, 
on  the  contrary,  that  almost  unknown  being,  an  humble 
apostle  who  had  emerged  from  the  forests  of  the  Great 
West  to  sit  in  the  Capitol  of  the  Eome  of  free  ages,  and 
standing  on  the  topmost  of  its  steps,  as  it  were  on  the 
Sinai  of  Holy  Writ,  spoke  to  a  multitude  of  down-trod- 
den beings  grovelling  in  the  vilest  servitude,  or  weighed 
down  by  the  chains  placed  upon  them  by  the  strong,  and 
said  to  them  :  "  Be  men  !  for  there  is  but  one  humanity. 
Be  Christians  !  for  there  is  but  one  God." 


i 


96 

III. 

There  are  men  who  have  no  ancestry  and  need  thera 
not.  The  world  is  their  country — the  human  race  their 
family.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  that  class.  No  one 
knows  with  certainty  from  whence  he  came.  All  eyes  are 
turned  to  the  bright  place  whither  he  is  going.  His  bap- 
tismal certificate  would  appear  to  be  inscribed  in  the 
vault  of  that  heaven  whose  brilliant  rays  illuminate  his 
redeeming  march;  and,  therefore,  as  he  falls  on  one  side 
the  victim  of  an  assassin's  stroke,  he  is  seen  to  rise,  crowned 
with  resplendent  lights,  to  ascend  to  the  highest  place  in 
the  Kingdom  of  the  Just! 

The  earthly  life  of  such  grand  spirits  is  not  an  exist- 
ence: it  is  a  mission.  Hence  it  is,  that  they  make  their 
appearance  but  at  the  interval  of  centuries.  Between  the 
initiatory  mission  of  George  Washington  and  the  culmi- 
nating mission  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  American  race 
had  passed  through  an  entire  era. 

The  colonist  and  the  slave  were  the  two  extremes  of 
that  grand  spiritual  transformation  of  the  inhabited  globe 
known  as  "  Democracy." 

Washington  changed  the  first  into  a  citizen,  and  passed 
away,  great,  sublime,  almost  sanctified,  to  be  claimed  by 
all  ages. 

Lincoln  changed  the  second  into  a  man,  and  for  this  he 
falls  a  martyr;  the  whole  earth  his  sepulchre. 

Heroes  in  goodness  !  Blessed  be  ye  throughout  all 
ages  and  amongst  all  men  ! 

IV. 

But  who  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  as  a  moral  being  and 
as  a  character,  as  the  living  agent  of  that  supreme  good- 
ness which  seemed  to  be  incorporated  with,  and  a  very  part 
of,  his  immortal  spirit  ?  That  is  what  we  shall  endeavor 
to  show  in  these  hastily  prepared  lines.  Some  incidents, 
made  known  by  sorrowing  and  absent  friends,  and  a  few 
of  those  pages,  covered  with  the  emblems  of  mourning, 
which  have  been  scattered  by  the  press,  are  all  that  we 
have  with  which  to  delineate  to  our  countrymen  that 
noble  figure  of  goodness,  which  should  be  attempted  only 
by  the  greatest  artists,  and  not  by  our  feeble  hand. 


97 


Y. 


Abraham  Lincoln  was  born  in  the  midst  of  the  primeval 
forests  of  America,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  and  not  fiir 
from  the  Mississippi,  the  first  the  finest,  and  the  other  the 
largest  of  North  American  rivers.  His  father  was  a 
laborer;  his  grandfather  was  a  colonist-soldier,  and  per- 
ished at  his  own  door,  while  defending  his  home  from  the 
savages.  In  the  midst  of  those  Kentucky  woods,  on  the 
12th  of  February,  1809,  came  into  the  world,  he  whose 
name,  for  ages  to  come,  shall  never  be  uttered  save  with 
the  veneration  inspired  by  the  great  Kedeemer's,  with  the 
love  felt  for  all  public  benefactors,  and  with  the  sorrow 
due  to  all  sublime  martyrs, 

"  Abraham  Lincoln  (said  one  of  the  journals  opposed  to 
him,  as  in  mockery  of  his  humble  origin),  this  honest  old 
lawyer,  with  face  half  Roman,  half  Indian,  passed  his  first 
years  in  the  western  wilds,  grappling  with  remonstrating 
.bears,  and  looking  out  for  the  too  frequent  rattlesnake. 
Tall,  strong,  lithe  and  smiling,  Abe  toiled  on  as  farm- 
laborer,  mule-driver,  sheep-feeder,  deer-killer,  wood-cut- 
ter, and,  lastly,  as  boatman  on  the  waters  of  the  Wabash 
and  the  Mississippi." 

VI. 

Such  was  the  childhood  and  youth  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln. When  but  seven  years  of  age,  in  1816,  he  left  the 
Kentucky  forests  on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Ohio,  for 
those  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  in  the  State  of  Indiana. 
Fourteen  years  later,  in  1830,  he  again  moved  from  the 
Indiana  forests  into  the  still  more  savage  ones  of  Illinois, 
on  the  confines  of  the  region  then  inhabited  by  the  savages 
whose  arrow's  had,  years  before,  caused  the  death  of  his 
grandsire.  These  two  trips,  or  rather  this  progressive 
march  of  the  Western  settler,  which  marked  two  epochs 
in  the  obscure  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  had  presented  but 
one  contrast,  but  one  simple  and  natural  change--which 
was,  that  in  the  first  he  was  carried  by  his  father  with  the 
rest  of  his  family,  in  a  wagon  drawn  by  oxen,  whilst  in  the 
latter,  it  was  he  who,  being  more  fit  for  work,  guided  the 
vehicle  which   carried  his   household  goods   to   the   Far 

West 

7 


98 

On  his  arrival  in  Illinois,  the  young  settler  found  him- 
self— as  had  his  grandfather — with  gun  in  hand,  to  resist 
the  invasion  of  the  aboriginal  tribes.  In  the  war  with 
the  Indians,  known  as  the  Black  Hawk  War,  he  was 
elected  by  his  companions  Captain  of  Volunteers. 

YII. 

i/  During  all  this  time,  Abraham  Lincoln  had  been  to 
school  but  for  six  months.  But  there  are  beings  who  de- 
rive their  learning  from  all  that  they  see,  or  that  they 
hear,  or  that  comes  into  their  hands,  whether  printed  or 
written — books,  newspapers,  paintings,  objects  of  nature, 
— in  a  word,  all  that  can  be  acquired  from  books,  as  ideas 
or  as  syntheses  ;  and  Abraham  Lincoln's  was  one  of  those 
deep  minds  which  gather,  from  observation  and  compari- 
son, an  immense  store  of  intellectual  wealth  and  practical 
knowledge. 

^       By  said  means,  Abraham  Lincoln  became  a  lawyer  in 
1835. 

He  was  not  a  lawyer  graduated  at  a  University  ;  he  had 
no  diploma,  and  could  scarcely  count  twenty-seven  years 
of  a  poor  and  uneventful  life  ;  but  the  moral  power  which 
was  raising  him  to  the  glorious  end  in  store  for  him,  soon 
placed  him  at  the  summit  of  the  profession  which  he  had 
selected. 

In  1845,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  best  lawyer  in  the 
State  of  Illinois. 

VIIL 

But  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  like  all  other  lawyers. 
Having  had  no  masters,  neither  had  he  colleagues,  nor 
numerous  but  haughty  clients,  such  as  gather  round  the 
jurists  in  vogue.  For  him,  the  Forum  was  not  an  arena 
for  ambition,  nor  a  field  camp  in  which  to  strive  for  scho- 
lastic renown:;  it  was  not  even  the  tribunal  of  science, 
and  much  less  the  place  for  acquiring  wealth.  It  was 
something  nobler,  for  he  was  more  humble  and  disinter- 
ested. For  that  athlete  of  the  forests,  the  Forum  was  the 
tribunal  of  Grod's  justice;  it  was  the  throne  of  the  law, 
sublime  goddess  of  that  modern  paganism,  stigmatized  by 
Eorae,  called  Hiinian  Democracy,  simple  formula  of  the 
Old  Gospel  which  proclaimed  the  equality  of  men;  it  was, 


99 

in  fine,  the  portico  of  charity  where  the  unfortunate  sought 
refuge  from  the  strong,  and  where  all  persecuted  virtue 
found  a  shelter. 

That  was  the  diadem  of  Abraham  Lincoln — the  start- 
ing-point in  his  grand  mission  of  humanity.  Mercy,  ten- 
derness, love  for  the  good,  respect  tor  man,  pity  for  the 
afflicted,  and,  above  all,  his  perfect,unquestioned  and  sub-w 
,  lime  honesty.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  advocate  of  the 
poor,  of  all  the  widows  and  orphans  of  Illinois;  and 
therefore  lived  in  an  humble  way,  with  no  other  happi- 
ness and  no  other  pride  than  his  wife  and  children,  his  sole 
income  being  his  daily  bread,  blessed  by  the  lips  of  thou- 
sands. 

In  that  simple  home,  the  sole  inheritance  of  the  mar- 
tyr's children,  lived,  for  twenty-five  years,  the  very  personi- 
fication of  unspotted  honor,  that  "  Honest  Abe,"  whom 
the  American  people  mourn  as  for  a  father,  and  bless  al- 
most as  a  saint.  It  was  there  in  his  old  homestead,  in 
Springfield,  that  his  fellow-countrymen  sought  him  to 
carry  him  to  that  Capitol  in  Washington,  from  the  sum- 
rait 'of  which  it  seems  as  though  the  whole  world  might 
be  surveyed;  and  there  he  now  rests  in  the  eternal  sleep  of 
this  earthly  nothingness,  after  having  received,  in  his  pas- 
sage from  the  Presidential  Chair  to  the  tomb— not  the 
angry  oath  of  those  who  shook  the  bloody  tunic  of  Caesar 
in  "the  Forum,  crying  for  vengeance! — but  the  grandest 
A})otheosis  within  the  memory  of  ages,  as  a  tribute  from 
a  free  people  to  a  citizen. 

IX. 

As  a  political  man,  Abraham  Lincoln  had  but  one 
principle— Liberty,  as,  when  a  lawyer,  he  had  but  one 
jiiin— Justice.  Therefore,  before  being  called  to  the  Presi- 
dentiaTCTTair  of  Washington's  successors,  had  his  voice 
for  truth  and  liberty  already  been  heard  at  public  meet- 
ings, and  in  the  halls  of  Congress  on  two  solemn  occasions 
in°the  history  of  the  American  nation.  The  first  was 
when  the  accursed  ambition  of  the  men  of  the  South  car- 
ried into  Mexico  the  banner  of  the  Stars,  veiled  with  the 
crape  of  the  usurpers.  Abraham  Lincoln,  placing  himself 
by  the  side  of  the  noble  Clay,  and  from  the  seat  which  he 
occupied  by  the  votes  of  his  fellow-citizens„  as  a  represen- 
tative in  Congress  from  Illinois,   denounced  before  the 


^ 


100 

world  the  crime  of  that  oligarchy  of  slavery,  which  wished 
to  usurp  the  territories  lying  south  of  the  Union,  to  plant 
therein  the  seed  of  slavery,  accursed  of  God  and  con- 
demned by  the  human  law  of  all  times. 

The  second  proof  was  in  1858,  when  those  same  men  at- 
tempted to  gain,  through  political  trickery,  the  territories 
of  the  North,  in  order  to  introduce  into  that  virgin  soil 
their  black  institutions,  by  repealing  the  so-called  "  Mis- 
souri Compromise,"  which  had,  since  1820,  prevented  the 
propagation  of  slavery  into  the  North  by  a  barrier  as  of 
granite,  for  it  was  the  barrier  of  the  law. 

/  Abraham  Lincoln  had  then  become  the  hope  of  a  party. 
The  Republicans  were  organizing  in  those  days  of  prepar- 
ation, under  the  rallying  cry  of  "No  more  slavery  in  free 
territories."  The  Democrats,  who  were  already  meditat- 
ing the  bloody  catastrophe,  which  has  been  termed  the 
"  Kebellion,"  put  forward,  on  their  side,  as  opponent  to 
the  rising  athlete  of  the  West,  in  this  conflict,  or  rather 
in  this  skirmish  preliminary  to  the  grand  struggle,  the 
man  of  the  South  whom  they  considered  their  champion, 
the  famous  Stephen  Douglass,  known  as  the  little  giant 
on  account  of  his  small  stature  and  colossal  eloquence. 
They  were  both  candidates  for  seats  in  the  United  States 
Senate  from  the  State  of  Illinois.  They  contested  face  to 
face,  day  by  day,  and  hour  by  hour,  by  speech,  by  argu- 
raent,  and  at  the  ballot-box.     The  popular  voice  was  in 

V  favor  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  but  the  votes  of  the  State  Le- 
gislature elected  his  rival,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  yielded  a 
willino;  submission,  for  the  choice  was  made  in  accordance 
with  the  law. 

X. 

But  his  defeat  was  his  most  glorious  victory.  He  had 
entered  the  lists  as  a  soldier  in  a  just  cause,  and  though 
defeated  now,  he  was  to  rise  again  as  leader  in  that  cause. 
Few  men — says  a  California  journalist,  as  he  draws,  with 
easterly  hand,  the  necrology  of  President  Lincoln, 
referring  to  the  above-mentioned  electioneering  canvass  of 
1858, — were  able  to  cope  with  Stephen  Douglass  ;  but 
Abraham  Lincoln  was.  In  the  force  and  logic  of  his  ar- 
guments, in  the  style  of  eloquence  requisite  to  move  the 
masses  of  tihe  West,  in  his  readiness  with  answers,  in  his 


^ 


101 

just  criteria,  iu  the  art  of  captivating  and  convincing  vast 
assemblages,  he  had  but  few  superiors. 

Even  that  great  and  discontented  distributor  of  all  high 
reputations — the  London  Times — said,  when  giving  an 
account  of  a  book  which  was  published,  with  the  debates 
upon  slavery,  between  Douglass  and  Lincoln,  in  Illinois,^  . 
that  this  '•'  obscure  Western  lawyer"'  had  by  himself 
thrown  more  novelty  and  light  upon  that  old  subject,  than 
was  due  to  Wilberforce  and  Lord  Brougham,  the  great 
English  abolitionists,  to  the  most  illustrious  opponents  of 
slavery  in  the  American  Union — Henry  Clay  and  Daniel 
Webster. 

The  reputation  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  already  made, 
for  it  had  crossed  the  Atlantic. 

XL 

Be  it  as  it  might,  Lincoln,  though  defeated  by  Douglass 
in  Illinois,  in  1858,  in  his  turn  triumphed  over  the  latter 
in  all  the  free  States  in  1860;  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  the 
"rail-splitter"  of  Hardin  County,  Kentucky,  and  the  plain 
lawyer  of  Springfield,  was  inaugurated  President  of  the 
United  States  on  the  4th  of  March,  1861. 

The  farewell  words  of  Lincoln  on  that  occasion  to  the 
town  of  his  love  were,  like  his  own  soul,  pure  and  full  of 
tenderness. 

"  My  triends,"  said  he,  betraying  much  emotion,  as  he 
addressed  the  inhabitants  of  Springfield  for  the  last  time, 
on  the  11th  of  February,  1861—"  my  friends,  no  one  not 
in  my  position  can  appreciate  the  sadness  I  feel  at  this 
parting.  To  this  people  I  owe  all  that  I  am.  Here  I 
have  ifved  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ;  here  my 
children  were  born;  and  here  one  of  them  lies  buried.  I 
know  not  how  soon  I  shall  see  you  again.  A  duty  devolves 
upon  me  which  is,  perhaps,  greater  than  that  which  has 
devolved  upon  any  other  man  since  the  days  of  Washing- 
ton. He  never  could  have  succeeded  except  for  the  aid  of 
Divine  Providence,  upon  which  he  at  all  times  relied.  I 
feel  that  I  cannot  succeed  without  the  same  Divine  aid 
which  sustained  him;  and  in  the  same  Almighty  Being  I 
place  my  reliance  for  support;  and  I  hope  you,  my  friends, 
will  all  pray  that  I  may  receive  that  Divine  assistance, 
without  which  I  cannot  succeed,  but  with  which  success 
is  certain.     Again,  I  bid  you  all  an  affectionate  farewell." 


102 

''     The  man  who  had  secured  all  the  votes  of  Illinois,  now 
carried  away  with  him  all  their  hearts. 

XII. 

Not  less  nohle  nor  ingenuous  was  his  inaugural  address 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  delivered  in  the  presence  of  the 
American  Congress,  the  majority  of  which  was  opposed  to 
him  politically.  He  spoke  to  the  legislators  of  his  country 
as  he  had  spoken  to  the  ohscure  voters  of  Springfield — 
with  a  heart  overflowing  with  goodness,  love,  and  hope  of 
reconciliation  and  happiness. 

"  My  countrymen,"  he  cried,  as  he  closed  that  famous 
address,  and  after  protesting  that  he  should  never  attempt 
to  interfere  with  the  sovereign  right  of  any  slave  State  in 
the  Union  to  manage  their  own  institutions — "  My  coun- 
trymen, one  and  all,  think  calmly  and  well  upon  this 
whole  suhject.  Nothing  valuable  can  be  lost  by  taking 
time. 

"  If  there  be  an  object  to  hurry  any  of  you  in  hot  haste 
to  a  step  which  you  would  never  take  deliberately,  that 
object  will  be  frustrated  by  taking  time;  but  no  good  ob- 
ject can  be  frustrated  by  it. 

"  Such  of  you  as  are  now  dissatisfied  still  have  the  old 
Constitution  unimpaired,  and  on  the  sensitive  point  the 
laws  of  your  own  framing  under  it;  while  the  new  admin- 
istration will  have  no  immediate  power,  if  it  would,  to 
change  either. 

f '  If  it  were  admitted  that  you  who  are  dissatisfied  hold 
the  right  side  in  the  dispute,  there  is  still  no  reason  for 
precipitate  action.  Intelligence,  patriotism,  Christianity, 
and  a  firm  reliance  on  Him  who  has  never  yet  forsaken 
this  favored  land,  are  still  competent  to  adjust,  in  the  best 
way,  all  our  present  difficulties. 

"  In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen,  and 
not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war.  The 
Government  will  not  assail  you. 

"  You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the 
aggressors.  You  have  no  oath  registered  in  Heaven  to 
destroy  the  Grovernment;  while  I  shall  have  the  most 
solemn  one  to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  it. 
^  'i'  I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends. 
We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have 
strained,  it  mast  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection. 


103 

"  The  mystic  cords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battle  field  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and 
hearth-stone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  surely  they 
will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature." 

What  other  man  ever  used  like  language  to  his  fellow- 
citizens,  to  his  enemies,  to  the  avowed  conspirators  against 
his  authority  ?  In  vain  would  we  look  for  two  passages 
in  any  way  approaching  those  just  quoted,  in  those  mean- 
ingless array  of  words,  commonly  called  Messages,  of  the 
sovereigns  to  their  people. 

XIII. 

The  doings,  the  sufferings,  the  purposes  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  during  the  four  years  of  his  first  tumultuous^  pres- 
idential term,  and  up  to  the  moment  when  the  parricidal 
bullet  pierced  through  the  walls  of  his  mighty  intellect, 
all  are  known  to  the  whole  world,  and  his  glory  would 
gain  nothing  by  a  single  additional  note,  obscure  and  un- 
known, to  the  infinite  hymn  now  being  sung  in  his  honor  *^ 
by  all  freemen  throughout  the  universe.  But  here  we 
wish  to  recall  to  the  memory  of  all  another  noble  act. — 
When  McClellan,  in  1862,  was  forced  to  abandon  the  first 
siege  of  Richmond,  the  people  of  Washington,  exasperated 
at  the  disaster,  held  a  war  meeting  to  denounce  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  at  whose  door  the  blame  of  the  failure  was 
laid.  The  excitement  was  intense;  but  lo!  in  the  midst  of 
the  multitude  appears  one  who  is  greeted  with  vociferous 
applause  bv  all.  It  was  the  President  of  the  United 
States!  Without  the  least  hesitation,  he  ascends  the 
stand  prepared  for  the  public  speakers,  and,  after  a  short 
address,  he  utters  words,  worthy  to  be  eternally  remem- 
bered. 

"We  know  nothing  greater  in  the  political  history  of  ^ 
mankind  than  that  trait  of  noble  patriotism,  manly  loy- 
alty, and  truly  sublime  and  christian  humility,  unless  it 
be  that  other  eminently  American  act  of  the  transfer 
which  took  place  at  Washington  of  the  supreme  power 
when  Abraham  Lincoln  breathed  his  last.  The  transfer 
of  the  most  extensive  civil  and  military  power,  whether  on 
land  or  at  sea,  of  the  present  day,  was  made  with  the  same 
simplicity  with  which  the  patriarchs  of  old  used  to  divide 


/ 


104 

the  inheritance  of  their  tribe  amongst  their  offspring. — 
That  Napoleon  I,  might  receive  the  ci'owq  upon  his  tem- 
ples beneath  the  banners  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris,  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  deluge  Europe  in  blood  for  ten  long 
years.  That  Andrew  Johnson  might  be  invested  with  the 
supreme  rule  of  [the  most  powerful  nation  of  modern 
times,  nothing  more  was  requisite  than  a  simple  message 
to  a  hotel,  and  a  conversation  rather  thon  a  ceremony  of  a 
few  moments  duration  in  a  private  room. 

XIV. 

The  rigid  loyalty  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  the  presence  of 
public  assemblages  never  swerved  before  any  power,  never 
gave  way  to  any  passion.  Abraham  Lincoln,  calm  and 
alert  as  a  skilful  pilot  in  a  storm,  always  used  the  same 
language  to  the  loyal  people  and  to  the  people  in  rebellion; 
to  the  Confrress  of  the  United  States  asking  for  informa- 
tion,  and  to  the  public  gatherings  who  called  him  to  his 
balconies  seeking  his  aid  or  counsel;  to  the  powerful  Gov- 
ernment of  Great  Britain,  to  whom  he  returned  Slidell 
and  Mason  in  the  name  of  the  law,  and  to  weaker  Brazil, 
whose  flag  he  caused  to  be  saluted,  as  homage  due  to  jus- 
tice violated  by  force. 

XV. 

In  this  respect,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  the  most 
y  uncommon  and  greatest  of  men,  because,  as  a  political 
man,  he  possessed  the  love  of  truth — that  grand  and  rare 
virtue  amongst  the  politicians  who  now  rule  the  world. — 
He  was  the  founder  of  a  new  school.  He  took  upon  him- 
self to  prove  to  the  world  that  the  conscience  of  an  honest 
man  was  better  for  governing  a  nation  than  all  the  can- 
nons of  brute  force,  and  all  the  intrigues  of  cunning  and 
perfidy.  Prior  to  his  appearance,  to  govern  was  to  lie. — 
Now,  falsehood,  like  a  fetid  torch,  would  be  extinguished 
on  the  white  marble  of  his  tomb.  Before  him,  Franklin 
Pierce  had,  by  that  human  abomination  which  courtiers 
loudly  applaud,  and  style  "  intriguing  ability,"  jilaced  the 
Union  on  the  brink  of  the  abyss  into  which  it  was  after- 
wards precipitated  by  James  Buchanan's  decrepit  imbe- 
cility— convenient  pabulum  of  the  felony  of  thousands  of 
hidden  traitors  for  four  long  years.     But  Lincoln  raised 


105 

from  the  ground  his  criminally  betrayed  country,  restored 
her  to  her  ancient  glory,  placed  in  her  hand  the  sword  of 
justice,  and  on  her  forehead  the  brilliant  diadem  of  truth. 
Abraham  Lincoln,  as  chief  ruler  of  one  of  the  great, 
powers  of  modern  times,  reduced  all  books  on  diplomacy 
to  one  single  principle— good  faith;  interpreted  all  interna- 
tional codes  in  one  way— justice;  and  brushed  away  all 
the  schemes  and  artifices  of  politicians  with  one  single^ 
tool — the  truth. 

XVI. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  nevci^guilty  ^ofjalsehood.  All 
that  he  ever  did  was  pre-announced^tDynimself  as  to  the 
time  and  manner  in  which  he  would  do;  and  when  the  ^ 
hour  fixed  arrived,  his  promise  was  fulfilled  though  the 
whole  world  might  interpose.  In  his  inaugural  message, 
for  example,  he  said  that  he  wished  not  to  interfere  with 
the  question  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States,  in  order  to 
give  them  no  pretext  for  rebellion;  and  although  the  pres- 
sure of  his  party  bore  heavily  upon  his  will  and  action  to 
induce  him  to  revoke  that  promise,  he  would  never  do  so, 
neither  in  the  moments  of  exultation  because  of  glorious 
victories,  nor  in  the  midst  of  panics  because  of  disasters. 

A  little  later,  in  ii  proclamation  which  shall  henceforth 
be  placed  in  the  annals  of  America  by  the  side  of  Wash- 
ington's farewell  address,  he  announced  that  slavery  would 
be  declared  abolished  in  all  rebel  States  which  should  not 
have  submitted  on  a  fixed  day  and  hour,  and  on  that  day 
and  hour  four  millions  of  human  beings  were  made  free. 


Thus  were  laid  for  all  times  the  foundations  of  a  policy 
totally  at  variance  with  the  old  course  of  the  world.  The 
policy  or  doctrine  of  Monroe  was  an  energetic  but  egotis- 
tical expansion  of  American  strength  within  its  own  orbit. 
Lincoln's  policy  was  the  extension  of  universal  conscience 
throughout  all  ends  of  the  earth.  The  doctrine  of  the 
first  was  a  menace  to  Europe.  The  policy  of  the  latter  is 
a  lesson  to  the  world;  and,  now  that  that  doctrine  has 
been  consecrated  by  the  blood  of  its  author,  all  ages  shall 
take  upon  themselves  to  convert  the  belief  of  X\v%ju&t  into. 
the  religion  of  all  who  \ovq  justice. 


106 


XVIII. 

y      We  have  said  all  that  we  know  of  Abraham  Lincoln. — 

Such  was  he  as  a  lawyer,  statesman,  and  chief  magistrate. 

We  will  now  look  at  him  as  a  man. 

/     The  noblest  virtues,  which  adorned  that  grand  figure  of 

^  modern  times,  were  the  loving  kindness  of  his  character, 

and  the  magnanimous  clemency  of  his  soul. 

Never,  during  those  four  years  of  frightful  struggle,  in 
which  blood  poured  as  from  a  heaven  darkened  by  the 
most  horrible  passions,  and  the  smoke  of  gigantic  battles, 
/never  was  that  humble  but  most  powerful  man  heard  to 
X' \/  utter  an  angry,  not  even  a  bitter  word  against  his  en- 
emies and  those  of  his  country.  His  favorite  saying  was 
one  of  the  noblest  sentences  of  Christianity — "  Forgive 
them,  Lord,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  That  was 
the  emblem  of  the  hate  with  which  his  heart  returned  the 
hatred  of  his  adversaries;  that  was  the  sole  reply  of  Lib- 
erty's high  priest  to  the  thousand  foul  tongues  which  day 
by  day  poured  the  venom  of  calumny  upon  his  noble  head; 
that  was,  perchance,  the  sublime  meditation  of  that  spirit 
of  mercy  so  clearly  pictured  in  his  long  suffering  face,  at 
the  very  moment  when  the  parricide's  stroke  chilled  on  his 
lips  his  last  habitual  smile.  And  that  was,  we  cannot 
doubt,  his  last  and  only  vengeance,  as,  in  his  tranquil  and 
silent  agony,  raising  his  thoughts  to  that  God  whom  he 
ever  invoked,  he  prayed,  in  humble  imitation  of  the 
spotless  Lamb  of  Calvary,  for  the  pardon  of  his  slayers. 
Alas  !  why  do  men  like  Abraham  Lincoln  die,  when  so 
^niany  cruel  tyrants,  so  many  vile  doers  of  crime,  so  many 
oppressors  of  humanity,  robed  in  the  purple  of  the  Cassars, 
or  in  the  worn-out  mantle  of  the  sellers  in  the  Temple, 
still  live  in  all  their  pomp  and  sin  .?  Why  did  not  the 
guardian  angel  of  America,  that  tutelary  genius  who 
closed  in  peace  the  eyes  of  Freedom's  greatest  heroes — 
Washington  and  Bolivar,  San  Martin  and  Fianklin — why 
did  he  not  stay  the  slayer's  arm,  as  in  the  case  mentioned 
in  Holy  Writ,  and  which  is  brought  to  our  mind  by  the 
name  of  our  great  martyr,  and  once  more  fulfil  that  law 
of  salvation  which  has  redeemed  from  danger  so  many 
precious  lives  ? 

God  alone  knows  ! 

Meanwhile,    the   sentence   of  destiny  had   gone  forth; 


107 

and  therefore  was  consummated  the  greatest  crime  the  - 
■world  ever  saw,  in  audacity,  combination,  and  success;  in 
the  choice  of  place,  hour,  and  occasion:  in  the  motives 
alleged;  in  all  its  episodes  and  parties;  in  a  word,  that 
tragedy  of  a  second's  duration,  in  which  appeared  the 
horrible  and  terrible  spectre,  Wilkes  Booth,  the  most  atro- 
cious and  the  most  daring  of  all  criminals  who  have  be- 
queathed their  names  to  history.  Truly,  in  order  to  sa- 
crifice in  such  a  manner  so  kind,  so  merciful  a  man,  one 
so  full  of  all  goodness  as  Abraham  Lincoln,  it  needed  that 
in  the  universe  there  should  also  dwell  a  man  with  heart 
devoured  by  the  flames  of  hell,  and  whose  assassin  arm 
should  be  strengthened  with  the  terrible  energy  of  the 
reprobate. 

To  slay  Nero,  the  arm  of  a  cowardly  and  base  slave 
sufficed.     Cain  alone  could  have  murdered  Abel! 

XIX. 

In  the  honors  which  have  been  rendered  to  the  great 
martyr  of  the  age,  in  the  tears  which  have  been  shed,  and 
in  the  eulogiums  which  have  been  made  by  all  mankind, 
there  has  been  nothing  fictitious  or  conventional.  The 
liberation  of  the  slaves  had  inscribed  his  name  on  the 
golden  page  of  the  saviours  of  humanity,  which  com- 
menced with  Moses,  and  had  been  closed  with  Wash- 
ington. 

His  unbounded  toleration  of  all  creeds,  all  systems,  and 
all  things  not  condemned  by  law  and  justice,  those  eternal 
attributes  of  all  nations,  had  made  him  the  citizen  of  all 
countries,  and  therefore  all  have  mourned  for  him  as  for  a 
personal  loss.  His  very  enemies  have  furnished  the  noblest 
and  most  expressive  epitaphs  for  his  tomb.  General  Lee, 
on  hearing  of  the  crime,  exclaimed,  as  his  eyes  filled  with 
tears,  "  The  man  has  gone  who  conquered  the  South  be- 
fore and  more  effectually  than  all  the  armies  of  Grant!" 
and  that  other  remark  of  the  implacable  rebel.  General 
Koger  Pryor— "  The  best  friend  of  the  South  has  goiie," 
are  not  they  of  themselves  the  brightest  crown  of  all  whick, 
in  his  funeral  apotheosis,  decked  the  brow  cold  in  death 
of  the  dictator  of  good  ? 

XX. 

In  his  private  habits,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  worthy  of 


108 

the  ancient  name  he  bore.     He  lived  as  did  the  patriarchs 
of  the  early  ages,  with  no  other  pleasures  than  love  for 
his  kin;  with  no  other  goods  than  the  roof  under  which 
y^he  passed  his  days;  no  other  worship  than  that  of  God. — 
He  belonged  to  no  sect;  he  recognized  the  mystic  supre- 
macy of  no  church;   but  he  was,  notwithstanding,  the 
most  fervent  christian,  the  most  generous  philanthropist, 
4  the  sincerest  and  humblest  of  believers,  as  is  shown  by  his 
I  speeches,  harangues,  messages  to  Congress,  and,  in  short, 
/  by  everything  which  fell  from  his  lips  or  was  written  by 
(  his  pen,  which  were  ever  clothed  in  the  vastest  and  truest 
religious  spirit.     His  enemies  said  that  he  only  wrote  ser- 
num^,  because  they  could  not  understand  that  he,  the  gen- 
eralissimo on  sea  and  land,  who  commanded  the  largest 
armies  and  most  formidable  squadrons  of  which  history 
speaks,  was  but  a  simple  priest  of  Liberty;  a  humble  and 
sublime  liberator,  who  had  come  from  the  forests  of  the 
West  to  rule  half  a  world  with  the  two  codes  which  con- 
tained all  his  belief  and  all  his  duties — the^jGonstitution 
of  the  Unionjmd-tlieHoly  Bible. 


XXI. 

But  from  all  that  has  been  said,  it  may,  perchance,  be 
thought  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  grave,  pertinacious, 
inflexible  man.  And,  nevertheless,  there  was  not  in  the 
United  States  a  plainer,  more  jovial,  and  humorous  man. 
The  merry  and  jocose  humor  of  "  Old  Abe  "  was  prover- 
bial, not  only  in  the  servants'  rooms  in  the  White  House 
at  Washington,  but  also  in  the  cabins  of  the  most 
unhappy  slaves.  He  was  ever  laughing,  ever  joyous,  and 
always  accessible.  A  joke  was  the  chief  characteristic  of 
his  conversations  in  the  family  circle,  as  a  certain  biblical 
tone  pervaded  all  that  he  said  or  wrote  concerning  his 
public  mission.  He  could  not  converse  without  relating 
an  anecdote,  nor  write  without  quoting  from  some 
parable. 

On  one  occasion,  while  traveling  in  a  stage  coach,  in 
1848,  making  the  circuit  of  the  Illinois  courts,  he  pre- 
tended to  be  an  ignorant  countryman,  and  made  a  young 
lawyer,  his  fellow-passenger,  relate  the  most  absurd  sto- 
ries about  the  comet  which  appeared  that  year.  But  his 
credulity,  which  he  kept  up  to  the  end,  was  but  an  inno- 


109 

cent  joke,  perfectly  proper  on  such  an  occasion.  On  the 
following  day,  he  saluted  his  astounded  colleague  as  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  the  Nestor  of  the  Illinois  Bar.  Fifteen 
years  later,  on  delivering  to  the  aforesaid  young  lawyer  his 
credentials  as  Minister  to  one  of  the  American  Republics, 
he  recalled  to  his  memory  the  story  of  the  comet  with  that 
ingenuous  mirth  which  is  the  frankincense  of  all  good 
souls. 

It  is  also  told  of  him,  that  when  our  Envoy,  Rear- Ad-  ^ 
miral  Simpson,  was  presented  to  him,  for  the  purpose  of  \ 
obtaining  the  permission  of  his  Government  to  build  ships   / 
of  war  for  Chile  in  the  ship  yard  of  the  United  States,  he   / 
gave  the  refusal  in  a  peculiar  characteristic  manner.  "  We   I 
will  receive  you,"  said  he,  "  as  Envoy  of  a  nation  which 
we  highly  esteem,  as  a  librarian  receives  all  who  visit  his 
rooms.     You  shall  have  all  at  your  disposal,  look  at  every- 
thing, examine  everything  ;  but  then  you  cannot  have  a 
single  thing  ;  you  may  not  carry  away  the  book  lent  to 
you,  for  it  is  my  duty  to  return  it  safely  to  its  place." 

XXII. 

Abraham  Lincoln  joined,  to  a  sound,  practical  judg- 
ment, common  to  men  of  his  race,  the  most  exquisite  sim-  -^ 
plicity  of  language.  It  was  said  of  him  that  no  man  in 
the  U  nited~"States  could  say  more  in  fewer  words,  nor 
greater  things  in  more  humble  language.  The  frugality 
of  his  habits  could  be  compared  only  with  the  modesty 
of  his  character.  Never  did  he  drink  any  kind  of  liquor  \.^ 
during  his  long  and  austere  life,  nor  did  he  even  allow 
himself  the  innocent  use  of  tobacco.  His  dress  was  as 
unpretending  as  that  hi  the  old  Puritans.  In  Washing- 
ton, as  at  Springfield,  he  used  to  buy  the  first  suit  he  saw 
in  a  tailor's  show-window;  and  had  his  wardrobe  been  ap- 
praised at  the  time  of  his  death,  it  would  not  have  been 
valued  at  more  than  that  of  his  predecessor  and  friend, 
General  Taylor,  who,  while  President  of  the  United 
States,  was  Avont  to  appear  in  the  streets  of  Washington 
in  a  common  suit,  the  total  value  of  which  was  estimated 
by  passers-by  at  "  nine  dollars." 


His  personal  looks  did  not  fail  to  harmonize  with  his 


v^ 


110 

disregard  for  appearances.  That  man,  gifted  as  he  was, 
with  such  rich  qualities  of  soul  and  mind,  had,  like  the 
opaque  vase  of  Scripture,  a  common,  almost  vulgar,  look. 
He  was  very  tall,  bony,  thin  and  gaunt,  and  his  coarse 
features  gave  no  signs  of  the  gentleness  of  his  soul,  save 
in  that  ever  present  smile  which  death  itself  found  play- 
ing round  his  lips.  He  was  the  backwoodsman  of  the 
West,  removed  to  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  in  all  his 
original  rusticity,  which  seemed  to  lend  increased  strength 
to  his  innate  power.  He  was  the  same  wood-cutter  of  the 
Ohio,  seated  on  the  throne  of  human  democracy,  save 
that  the  destinies  of  the  world  now  depended  upon  his 
axe  ! 

XXIV. 

Such  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  liberator  of  the  slaves 
— the  new  Moses  who  dictated  to  the  disinherited  race  of 
Ham  the  tables  of  the  covenant  like  unto  those  received 
oa  Sinai  by  the  Hebrew  people — the  people  of  the  Sa- 
viour of  mankind — Jesus  Christ. 

He  lived  an  honest  man,  and  died,  like  the  saints  of  the 
Christian  calendar,  anointed  with  blood  and  the  glory  of 
martyrdom.  His  grand  mission  of  humanity,  of  duty, 
and  responsibility,  being  ended,  he  had  not,  like  Wash- 
ington at  Mount  Vernon,  or  Jackson  at  the  Hermitage, 
that  last  happiness  of  great  and  toil-worn  men,  a  peace- 
ful death  at  the  close  of  the  long  and  arduous  work  to 
which  they  were  called  on  earth  by  the  Supreme  Distribu- 
tor of  callings. 

Neither  did  he  close  his  eyes  in  death,  as  did  his  prede- 
cessors, Adams,  Jefferson,  and  Mor>roe,  on  the  great  day 
of  their  country,  as  though  that  country  wished  to  display 
its  brightest  gems  as  she  gathered  them  for  ever  into  her 
bosom.  ■••'•■  "'••"  *  *  Abraham  Lincoln  ceased  to 
exist  on  a  still  more  solemn  day.  The  redeemer  of  the 
slaves  died  on  the  day  on  which  the  Redeemer  of  all  man- 
kind was  crucified  on  Calvary  ! 

Let  his  memory  be  blessed  throughout  all  ages  to  come  ! 

XXV. 

And  until  those  ages  shall  arrive,  with  their  royal  offer- 
ings of  reward  and  justice,  let  thy  name,  oh  !  Abraham 
Lincoln  !  be  known  and  proclaimed  as  Benefactor  by  ail 


Ill 

the  oppressed  of  the  earth;  let  thy  memory  be  glorified  with 
hymns  of  gratitude  and  praise  by  all  free  men  who  know 
thy  origin,  wood-cutter  of  the  forest,  and  have  heard  of 
thy  end,  oh  !  martyr  of  liberty  !     Let  thy  new  redeeming 
doctrine  of  government,  clothed  in  the  white  robe  of  that 
grand  truth,  unspotted  as  it  came  from  thee,  be  inscribed 
in  the  book  of  the  destinies  of  the  New  World,  by  the  side 
of  Washington's  Farewell  and  Monroe's  Doctrine — those 
two  covenants  of  that  American  democracy  of  the  propa- 
gation of  which  they  were  the  first  apostles,  as  thou  hast 
just  been  made  the  martyr.     Let  thy  simple  homestead  at 
Springfield  be  consecrated  by  the  ovations  of  the  world 
as  the  humble  temple  of  thy  humble  virtues;  let  thy  love 
for  all  that  was  good,   and  for  thy   fellow-men,  let  thy 
veneration  for  home  and  family,  let  thy  constant  fear  of 
the  AU-Powerful  and  of  thy  country's  verdict,  sole  guide 
of  thy  guiltless  conscience — let  thy  charity  for  all  who, 
hungry  in  body  or  soul,  thou  feddest   with  thy  bread  or 
didst  relieve  with  thy  wisdom — let  all  these,  like  a  choir 
of  angels,  be  grouped    around  thy  tomb,    with    all  the 
other  emblems  of  those  sublime  gifts  which  have  made  thy 
name  couspicuous  amongst  those  of  thy  fellow-beings — 
thy  Probity  and  thy  Poverty  ! 

Yes  !  oh,  Abraham  Lincoln  !  blessed  be  thy  poverty, 
at  which  the  proud  and  haughty  ones  did  scoff",  whom  thou 
didst  afterwards  humble  and  subdue  but  to  pardon  ;  and 
which  covers  with  shame  and  confusion  all  those  who, 
born  like  thyself,  did  not  know  how  to  remain  poor  when 
powerful  as  thou  wast,  humble  dictator  of  a  world  of 
opulency  1 

Yes  !  oh,  Abraham  Lincoln  !  let  thy  grave,  opened  by 
the  tears  of  thy  fellow-countrymen,  in  the  very  centre  of 
thy  gioriouc5  Union,  serve  henceforth,  as  Washington's  at 
Mount  Vernon,  for  an  altar  of  consolation  and  oblations 
to  the  pilgrim  who  searches  throughout  the  universe  for 
the  worship  of  his  persecuted  creed;  to  the  exile  who  bears 
on  his  forehead  the  impress  of  cruel  tyranny;  to  the  emi- 
grant who  comes  to  thy  soil  in  search  of  bread  for  his 
loved  ones;  to  the  negro-slave  who  shall  journey  from  all 
lands  and  from  all  islands  wherever  thy  voice  may  have 
broken  his  fetters,  to  ask  for  his  tutelary  genius  and  to 
bless  him;  to  the  human  race,  in  fine,  who  acknowledges 
thee  as  an  apostle  of  truth,  as  a  creator  of  a  new  era   in 


112 

the  reign  of  ideas,  as  the  greatest  reformer  of  the  political 
principles  which  have  ruled  or  misguided  peoples  and  gov- 
ernments, and  as  the  purest  and  most  innocent  martyr, 
the  one  most  capable  of  every  heroism  and  every  virtue 
who  ever  fell  beneath  the  hand  of  a  parricide  ! 

And  for  all  this,  oh,  Abraham  Lincoln  !  on  this  soil  of 
distant  Chili,  on  which  are  raised  monuments  to  the  mar- 
tyrs of  ideas  and  victims  of  the  fanatical,  let  there  b  one 
offering  worthy  of  thy  glorification  after  thy  martyrdom; 
for  thou  too  didst  love  our  land  and  serve  it;  for  with 
the  breath  of  thy  spotless  integrity  thou  didst  efftice  for 
ever  from  the  altar  of  our  alliance  that  reproach  of  idola- 
try of  money  which  the  greediness  of  covetous  traders  had 
ever  shown  for  its  never  filled  coffer;  because  thou  didst 
repay  the  joy  with  which  we  heard  of  thy  victories  with 
the  ingenuous  thanks  so  often  expressed  in  thy  despatches, 
ever  brilliant  with  the  sincerity  of  thy  language;  because 
thou  alone,  of  all  the  powerful,  didst  remember  that  on 
certain  grand  but  ignored  days,  there  was,  on  the  soil  of 
thy  country,  a  tri-colored  flag,  the  banner  of  our  narion, 
and  didst  older  honors  to  be  paid  to  it  not  rendered  to  the 
standards  of  the  powerful;  and  because,  noble  and  good 
friend  of  Chile,  as  thou  didst  look  around  over  the  dia- 
phanic  firmament  of  nature,  thou  didst  more  than  once 
contemplate,  with  loving  look,  that  lone  star,  the  symbol 
of  our  destiny,  twin-sister  of  those  on  thy  once  again  in- 
tact banner,  and  which,  like  them,  shall  shine  until  time 
shall  be  no  more,  with  the  resplendent  brilliancy  of  fixed 
stars,  never  with  the  borrowed  light  of  satellites. 

And  for  all  this  also,  oh,  Abraham  Lincoln  !  whilst 
Europe  exhumes  from  the  dust  of  ages  the  figures  which 
embody  its  perverse  idolatry  of  usurpers  and  tyrants, 
America,  ever  independent,  ever  free,  ever  democratic, 
will  return  the  challenge  of  monarchies,  by  presenting 
to  the  eyes  of  the  world  thine  immortal  image  and  by 
venerating  thy  name,  a  thousand-fold  greater  than  all  the 
ancient  Ca3sars,  again  restored  to  life,  as  that  of  a  com- 
mon father  who  from  high  heaven  unites,  with  loving 
hands,  into  one  single  family,  at  once  respected  and  pow- 
erful, those  two  grand  divisions  of  the  earth  and  of  the 
human  race,  known  as  the  World  of  Columbus. 

B.  VICUNA  MACKENNA. 
Santiago,  June  1st,  1865. 


MOTION 

Offered  in  the  House  of  Deputies  of  Chile,  at  their 
Meeting  of  3d  June,  1865. 


The  name  of-  Abraham  Lincoln,  sixteenth  President 
of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  has  been,  for  the 
past  four  years,  to  all  the  nations  of  South  America,  and 
especially  to  Chile,  the  most  conspicuous  and  charac- 
teristic emblem  of  the  Democratic  institutions  which 
prevail  in  the  f];reater  part  of  the  countries  of  the  New 
World. 

By  his  most  noble  fulfilment  of  his  difficult  and  great 
mission,  no  less  than  by  the  exalted  qualities  of  his  char- 
acter, had  that  eminent  citizen  attained,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  Chilian  people,  to  the  same  height  at  which  our 
seniors,  half  a  century  since,  contemplated  the  figure  of 
George  Washington  first  President  of  the  Union,  and  be- 
yond doubt  the  true  initiator  of  the  independence  of  both 
continents  of  America. 

But  to  the  bright  gems  of  his  high  personal  merits  and  , 
of  his  honest,  just  and  freedom-giving  policy,  the  tragic  ¥ 
and  sudden  death  of  President  Lincoln,  at  the  very  mo- 
ment in  which  he  was  about  closing  the  great  work  of  so- 
cial reconstruction  which  he  had  undertaken,  giving  life 
and  civil  liberty  to  four  millions  of  human  beings,  has 
added  to  his  renown  the  glory  of  a  noble  martyrdom,  at 
the  sight  of  which  the  heart  of  all  true  Americans  has 
been  shrouded  in  mourninjr. 

And  of  all  the  nations  of  our  Continent  and  people  of 
our  race,  Chilians  have  especial  reasons  to  ofier  their  sym- 
pathy and  sorrow  to  the  people  and  Government  of  the 
United  States,  for  the  irreparable  loss  of  that  man  who 
from  all  points  of  view  was  great. 


y 


114 

From  the  time  that  Abraham  Lincoln  took  in  hand  the 
helm  of  State,  in  1861,  his  equitable  and  justice-lovincj 
policy  commenced  to  clear  away,  with  admirable  zeal,  all 
pending  difficulties  for  many  years  previous  between 
Chile  and  his  country,  thus  giving  us  a  true  mark  of  con- 
sideration, which  some  of  his  predecessors  denied  us,  and 
bringing  about  in  this  manner  the  most  cordial  relations 
of  mutual  esteem  and  friendship  between  the  two  coun- 
tries. 

In  view  of  events  within  the  memory  of  all,  it  may  be 
said,  unhesitatingly,  that  during  the  existence  of  Chile,  as 
as  an  independent  nation,  she  has  had  no  more  faithful 
or  considerate  friend  than  the  United  States  Government, 
under  President  Lincoln's  administration. 

Since  the  date  of  the  not  only  pacific  but  cordial  and 
respectful  settlement  of  the  old  Moji^donian  ouestion, 
until  the  sjiontaneous  offer  of  mediation,  nTatle  m  the 
name  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  by  their 
most  worthy  representative  in  Chili,  in  our  late  difficulty 
with  JBolivia,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Chilian  people  and 
government  liave  been  the  constant  recipients  of  marks  of 
sympathy  and  esteem  from  the  American  people  and  gov- 
ernment. 

It  is  pleasing  to  us  now  to  remember  that  the  first  and 
most  condoling  diplomatic  note  addressed  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  this  Republic,  after  the  terrible  calamity  by  which 
it  was  afflicted  in  December  of  1863,  was  that  of  the  Re- 
presentative of  the  United  States,  at  the  same  time  that 
the  Cabinet  at  Washington  was,  of  its  own  volition,  tak- 
ing part  with  us  in  our  national  rejoicings,  by  issuing 
'orders  that  simple,  thougk  significant,  honors  should  be 
paid  to  our  flag  and  Representative  on  the  national  holi- 
days of  Chile,  thus  giving  an  unprecedented  example  of 
national  courtesy  towards  us,  and  which  will  therefore 
always  form  a  highly  honorable  exception  to  our  Republic. 

The  sincere  tokens  of  appreciation  and  reciprocal  gene- 
rosity which  the  Government  of  President  Lincoln  con- 
stantly evinced  for  our  political  course,  reached  to  the 
point  of  giving  liberty,  on  our  last  September  anniversary, 
— and  lor  no  other  reason  than  that  he  was  a  Chilian —  to 
a  criminal  lying  in  prison  under  sentence  of  the  Courts. 

But,  aside  from  all  these  considerations,  so  suitable  to 
excite  a  vote  of  sincere  friendship  from  the  Representa- 


115 

tives  of  the  Chilian  people,  the  fact  alone  of  the  terini- 
uation  of  the  war,  and  the  reconstruction  of  the  North 
American  Union,  gives  such  reassurances  of  actual  safety 
and  ])eaceful  future  to  South  American  Republics,  that 
for  the  conscientious  discharge  of  our  public  duty,  as  well 
as  in  accordance  with  a  true  policy,  it  becomes  us  to  offer 
to  the  American  people  our  cordial  congratulations  upon 
the  restoration  of  internal  peace  and  the  triumph  of  those 
democratic  principles  which  have  been  so  tenaciously, 
although  secretly,  fought  against  by  European  Govern- 
ments, giving  unseen  aid  to  the  Southern  States  in  rebel- 
lion— those  same  Grovernments  which,  since  the  commence- 
ment of  that  rebellion,  have  been  plotting  and  scheming 
against  our  safety  and  our  honor. 

And,  again,  the  civil  war  in  the  United  States  was,  of 
itself,  so  horrible  a  calamity,  that  its  termination  should 
receive  from  all  Christian  nations  of  the  earth — and  es- 
pecially from  the  Chilian  people,  who  had  watched  with 
such  intensely  heartfelt  interest  the  terrible  incidents  of 
that  struggle — an  expression  of  profound  gratitude  to  that 
Divine  Providence  who  has  so  happily  ended  a  scourge 
unequaled  and  unknown  in  the  annals  of  nations  and  of 
time. 

Thus  it  appears  to  have  been  understood  by  the 
Government  of  Chile,  when,  in  the  last  message  of  the 
chief  of  the  nation,  the  restoration  of  peace  in  the  United 
States  was  spoken  of  as  the  most  notable  event  of  the 
present  time,  and  expression  was  given  to  the  nation's 
sorrow  at  the  bloody  sacrifice  of  the  great  man  to  whose 
laudable  policy  of  good  faith  and  honesty,  more  than  to 
the  triumph  of  his  armies,  was  due  that  happy  consum- 
mation. 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  has,  therefore,  duly 
fulfilled  its  duties.  The  people  of  Chile  have  done  like- 
wise, having  given  on'  this,  as  on  all  former  occasions, 
those  worthy  and  appropriate  manifestations  of  their  feel- 
ings which  have  gained  so  high  a  place  for  our  name  in 
the  public  opinion  of  foreign  nations.  It  is,  therefore, 
right  that  in  its  turn  the  Congress  of  Chile,  as  the  true 
representative  of  the  people,  should  likewise  offer  a  simple 
tribute,  but  at  the  same  time  worthy  and  expressive  of  the 
sentiments  which  animate   that  body  in   presence  of  the 


116 

two-fold   character  of  the    late   intelligeDce   from  North 
America. 

In  view  of  these  observations,  of  the  justice  af  which  I 
doubt  not  all  the  representatives  of  the  Chilean  nation  will 
agree,  I  have  not  hesitated  to  submit  to  your  votes  an  idea 
which,  in  my  humble  opinion,  covers  the  different  feelings 
which  at  this  moment  animate  us,  and  which  is  expressed 
in  the  following 

PROJECT  OF  LAW: 

Akticle  1st — The  portraits  of  Geojge  Washington  and 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  first  and  last  Presidents  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  shall  be  procured  at  the  na- 
tion's cost,  and  placed  in  the  Reception  Hall  of  the  De- 
pa  rtment  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  Chile,  as  a  tribute  offered 
by  the  Chilean  people  to  that  of  the  United  States,  on 
the  occasion  of  the  restoration  of  their  internal  peace  and 
their  mournful  loss  in  the  death  of  their  Chief  Magis- 
trate. 

Article  2d — This  project  of  law  shall  be  appropriately 
inscribed  at  the  foot  of  the  aforesaid  portraits,  and  com- 
municated by  the  Government  of  Chile  to  the  President 
of  the  Senate  and  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  the  United  States,  as  an  expression  of  the  feelings 
of  the  Chilean  Congress. 

Article  3d — The  President  of  the  Republic  is  hereby 
authorized  to  carry  this  project  of  laiu  into  effect. 

This  authorization  to  be  in  force  for  the  term  of  six 
months. 

BENJAMIN  VICUNA  MACKENNA. 
Santiago,  June  3,  1865. 


117 


POSTSCRIPT. 

Attempted  Arrest  of  B.  Vicuna  Mackenna,  Confidential  Agent  of  Chiliin 
the  United  States,  with  the  Preliminaries  of  his  Trial  for  Alleged  Viola- 
tion of   the  Neutrality  Laws  of  the  latter  country^    "  in  fitting  out  an 

"\  ^ Armed  Expedition  against  the  Dominions  of  the  Queen  of  Spain.^^ 


Althougli  it  was  not  our  intention  to  devote  any  space 
to  the  subject  referred  to  above,  we  deem  it  interesting, 
particularly  to  the  readers  of  this  pamphlet  who 
have  given  their  attention  to  the  proceedings  and 
opinions  on  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  the  feeling  exhibit- 
ed on  that  occasion  by  the  people  of  the  United  States,  to 
understand  how  those  opinions  and  feelings  have  been  car- 
ried out  in  reference  to  the  so-called  "  sister  republic  "  of 
Chili  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

We  purposely  refrain  from  any  commentary.  The  tacts 
to  which  the  following  documents  refer  speak  for  them- 
selves. 

On  the  6th  of  February,  just  a  month  after  the  great 
Monroe  Doctrine  meeting  took  place,  and  on  which 
occasion  the  letter  from  the  Hon.  District  Attorney, 
Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  expressing  his  warmest  sympathies 
with  the  cause  of  the  republic  against  the  attempts  of  the 
European  monarchies  (see  page  64),  was  read,  Mr.  Vicuna 
Mackenna,  confidential  agent  of  the  Republic  of  Chili, 
now  at  war  with  the  Spanish  Monarchy,  was  arrested  at 
his  residence  by  order  of  the  above  functionary,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  following  letter,  addressed  by  Mr.  Vicuna 
Mackenna  to  the  Editor  of  the  New  York  Herald,  on  the 
8th  of  February. 


118 


New  York,  Feb.  8,  1866. 

The  Neio  Yoi^k  Herald,  and  most  of  the  daily  papers  of 
this  city,  having  published  erroneous  statements  concerning 
the  attempted  arrest  made  of  my  person  by  the  Uiiited 
States  Marshal  on  the  evening  of  the  6th  inst,  I  hope 
that  you  will  permit  me  to  state  the  facts  in  the  case,  and 
place  this  affair,  with  which  the  public  is  so  intensely  in- 
terested, in  its  true  light.  What  really  took  place  is  sim- 
ply as  follows  : 

I  was  enjoying  the  quiet  of  my  residence  when  I  was 
informed  that  one  or  several  persons  unknown  to  me 
wished  to  see  me.  As  I  have  given  the  strictest  orders 
to  the  servants  to  admit  no  one  to  my  presence  with- 
out first  bringing  me  their  names,  their  admission  was 
denied.  Nevertheless,  my  private  secretary,  who  expressly 
occupies  a  room  for  the  reception  of  those  who  solicit  in- 
terviews with  me,  so  as  to  leave  me  free  from  the  innu- 
merable importunates  who  assail  my  house  every  day,  re- 
ceived the  persons  Avho  sought  me,  and  inquired  the  ob- 
ject of  their  visit,  such  being  the  instructions  which  he 
had  received. 

The  United  States  Marshal,  who  came  accompanied  by 
five  officers,  resorted  at  the  commencement  to  subterfuges 
altogether  unnecessary;  but  as  soon  as  he  declared  his 
name  and  bnsiness,  my  secretary  ascended  to  my  room,  and 
I  at  once  went  down  stairs  to  present  myself  to  that  func- 
tionary. 

I  asked  to  see  the  warrant  of  arrest,  and,  after  having 
read  it,  quietly  observed  that  I  could  not  be  arrested,  be- 
cause, although  my  position  in  this  country  had  been  that 
of  special  agent  of  Chili,  I  could  also  claim  diplomatic 
immunity  as  Secretary  of  the  Chilean  Legation  at  Wash- 
ington, which  title  I  had  in  my  possession,  and  could  show 
then  and  there. 

The  Marshal,  who  conducted  himself  with  the  utmost 
courtesy  and  respect,  as  also  his  subordinates,  went  to  con- 
sult the  United  States  District  Attorney,  and  I  despatch- 
ed several  telegrams  to  Washington,  so  that  the  Chilian 
Minister  might  take  the  necessary  steps  with  the  Secretary 
of  State. 

After  the  lapse  of  half  an  hour  the  Marshal  returned, 
and  told  me  that  I  might  remain    in    my  house,  go  to  the 


119 

opera,  or  wherever  I  saw  fit,  and  that  one   or  two  officers 
would  accompany  me  with  all  due  respect. 

I  accepted  these  conditions;  and  one  deputy-marshal 
only  having  remained — Mr.  Robinson,  an  extremely  civil 
young  man — he  did  me  the  honor  to  dine  with  me  and 
accompany  me  to  the  house  of  my  banker,  the  highly-res- 
pectable and  worthy  merchant,  Mr.  George  Gr.  Hobson  ; 
and  to  the  house  of  my  counsel,.  Mr.  E.  W.  Stoughton, 
returning  afterwards  to  his  house,  and  I  to  mine,  where  I 
slept  free  of  the  custody  of  any  one. 

All  the  mysterious  details,  the  novel  incidents,  and  the 
inventions  of  all  sorts  published  by  the  press,  are  each  and 
all  of  them  fictions,  gotten  up  to  excite  curiosity,  or  have, 
perhaps,  been  dictated  by  less  noble  motives.  I  have  been 
assured  that  Spanish  agents  were  found  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  my  house  at  the  time  when  the  attempt  was  made 
to  take  me  to  prison,  and  that  those  same  agents  insisted 
that  the  public  functionary  should  execute  it. 

Be  that,  as  it  may,  Mr.  Editor,  nobody  respects  the 
prestige  of  the  press  more  than  I  do,  for  I  have  been  one 
of  its  members  since  ray  early  youth.  But  not  for  that 
will  I  consent  by  my  silence  that  any  one  should  forge 
falsehoods  in  order  to  excite  the  public  interest  to  the  de- 
triment of  my  name  or  the  position  which  I  occupy.  I 
am  a  man  who,  knowing  how  to  respect  the  laws  and  the 
Commonwealth,  also  know  how  to  respect  myself,  and  to 
make  myself  respected  by  others.  Besides  I  am  accus- 
tomed to  live  in  a  country,  where  the  residences  of  citi- 
zens are  considered  sacred,  according  to  the  constitution, 
the  law,  the  press,  and  the  public  customs  ;  and  I  wonder 
why  the  case  should  not  be  the  same  in  the  United  States 
of  America. 

With  regard  to  the  motive  of  my  attempted  seizure,  it 
is,  "  that  I  propose  to  fit  out  an  expedition  against  the 
dominions  of  the  Queen  of  Spain,"  according  to  the  terms 
of  the  accusation,  I  will  not  at  this  time  say  a  single 
word,  neither  will  I  explain  the  errors  made  by  the  tele- 
graph in  the  transmission  of  the  despatches  of  my  honor- 
able friend,  Mr.  Asta-Buruaga,  the  Chilian  Minister  at 
Washington,  For  all  this  the  proper  time  will  come  be- 
fore the  tribunal  of  justice,  and  before  the  grand  jury  of 
public  opinion. 

Until  that  time  comes,  and  which  I  desire  may  be  very 


120 

soon,  I  will  only  permit  myself  to  say  that  had  I  not  been 
born  in  a  country  where  treason  has  never  been  known,  and 
where  the  people  are  taught  from  the  cradle  to  regard  be- 
trayal and  espionage  as  an  infamy,  I  could  force  to  ac- 
company me  to  the  tribunal  of  the  United  States  a 
brilliant  array  of  numberless  prominent  men  of  every  pub- 
lic jDrofession  in  this  country — generals,  commodores,  sen- 
ators, bankers,  diplomatic  ministers,  journalists,  and  even 
the  highest  functionaries  of  the  republic — who  have  nobly 
offered  to  sustain  the  cause  of  the  country  which  I  repre- 
sent, and  for  which  same  crime  I  have  been  accused. 

Nevertheless,  it  shall  not  happen,  so  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned ;  on  the  contrary,  divesting  myself,  perhaps 
voluntarily,  of  the  diplomatic  privileges  to  which  I  am 
entitled  by  law,  in  order  to  make  its  action  more  expedi- 
tious, I  will  come  forward  alone  to  maintain  the  justice  and 
legality  of  my  proceedings,  and  then  the'  people  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  civilized  world  in  general,  shall 
know  if  the  grand  principles  which  were  the  glory,  the 
power,  and  the  prestige  of  this  country  in  the  old  time,  are 
to-day  only  shadows  of  the  past,  or  if  they  may  still  be 
seen  like  a  rainbow  of  hope  by  free  men  and  free  peoples, 
who  may  be  subjected  to  the  aggressions  of  crowned 
usurpers,  from  the  Kio  Grande  to  the  Archipelago  of 
Chiloe. 

My  judgment  by  these  measures  will  be,  not  the  trial 
of  an  individual,  but  a  trial  of  the  present  policy,  of  the 
oldest  and  best  loved  doctrines,  of  the  public  sentiment, 
in  fact,  of  the  United  States,  so  strongly  uttered  every  day 
from  the  precincts  of  the  humblest  country  club  to  the 
splendid  halls  of  the  Capitol  of  your  great  republic. 

Before  concluding,  I  beg  that  the  journals  which  have 
published  false  or  deceptive  versions  of  the  event  to  which 
this  letter  refers  will  have  the  goodness  to  reproduce  this, 
tor  it  is  the  only  true  one. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir, 

Most  respectfully, 

B.  VICUNA  MACKENNA. 

In  consequence  of  these  proceedings,  Mr.  Vicuna  Mac- 
kenna's  trial  commenced  on  the  .14th  of  February,  before 
the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States,  by  a  preliminary 


121 

debate,  in  which  Mr.  Vicuiia  Mackenna  proved  that  he 
was  entitled  to  diplomatic  privileges,  as  claimed  in  the 
letter  we  have  just  reprinted;  after  doing  which,  he  declin- 
ed ^  all  immunity,  and  asked  to  be  tried  as  a  simple 
citizen. 

The  following  documents,  presented  and  read  in  court 
by  Mr.  Vicuna  Mackenna's  counsellor,  Mr.  E.  W.  Stough- 
ton,  refer  to  the  position  assumed  by  the  accused. 

United  States  of  America, 
Southern  District  of  New  York,  ss.  : — 

Benjamin  Vicuiia  Mackenna,  being  duly  sworn,  says  : — 
That  he  was  born  in  Santiago,  the  capital  of  the  State  of 
Chili;  that  his  family  have  been  connected  for  many  years 
with  the  public  service  of  that  country,  his  maternal  grand- 
father. General  Mackenna  having  been  a  member  of  the 
earliest  executive  Government  when  the  country  broke  the 
yoke  of  Spain  in  1810,  and  his  paternal  grandfather  a 
president  of  the  republic  some  time  after  ;  that  he  is  a 
lawyer  and  an  author  by  profession,  having  published  sev- 
eral historical  and  political  Avorks,  and,  consequently,  a 
member  of  many  learned  societies,  both  in  Europe  and 
South  America;  that  for  the  last  two  years  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Republic 
of  Chili,  and  Secretary  of  that  body,  which  position  he  still 
retains;  that,  when  the  Spanish  Government  sent  a  fleet  to 
humiliate  and  2)lunderhis  country,  under  the  most  scandal- 
ous pretexts,  he  was  requested  by  the  Secretary  of  State  of 
the  republic,  Hon.  Alvaro  Cavarrubias,  to  come  to  this 
country  in  the  capacity  of  Secretary  of  the  Chilian  Lega- 
tion at  Washington,  and  as  confidential  agent  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, to  awaken  the  public  opinion  of  this  country  to 
the  righteousness  and  justice  of  the  cause  of  Chili,  and  by 
this  means  to  increase  the  feeling  of  friendship  and  mutual 
interest  existing  between  the  two  countries, which  has  always 
(and  particularly  since  the  war  of  the  rebellion  broke  out) 
been  of  the  most  amicable  and  intimate  character,  Chili 
having  consented  to  pay  the  only  claim  made  by  this  country 
upon  her  treasury,  and  which  before  the  rebellion  the 
Government  had  refused  to  yield  for  more  than  thirty 
years;  that  he  unhesitatingly  consented  to  serve  his  coun- 
try  in   that  capacity,  and   sailed  from  Valparaiso  on  the 


122 

followim;  day  (the  2d  of  October  last)  in  an  Englisli  steam- 
er bound  to  Panama  and  thence  to  this  city,  where  he  ar- 
rived on  the  19th  of  November;  that  previou.t!  to  his  de- 
parture he  hnd  only  time  to  receive  a  few  letters  of  intro- 
duction to  this  country,  having  been  principally  thus  fav- 
ored by  the  Hon.  I'homas  H,  Nelson,  Minister  of  the 
United  States  in  Chili,  with  whose  warm  and  kind  friend- 
ship deponent  had  been  honored  since  his  arrival  in  that 
country,  this  deponent  having  on  several  occasions  been  the 
channel  of  intercourse  between  Mr.  Nelson  and  the  Chilian 
Government — that  high-minded  American  representative 
being  most  sincerely  esteemed  and  respected  both  by 
the  Grovernment  and  j)eople  of  Chili,  who  looked  with 
general  grief  to  his  removal  from  office  at  the  moment 
when,  as  senior  of  the  diplomatic  body  of  Chili,  he  exer- 
cised the  whole  of  his  influence  to  bring  the  Spaniards  to 
reason.  Deponent  has  had  an  opportunity  of  presenting 
but  a  few  of  Mr.  Nelson's  letters,  among  them  those  ad- 
dressed to  the  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair,  Speaker  Schuyler 
Colfixx,  Senators  Lane,  Sumner,  and  a  few  others.  Among 
the  letters  written  by  the  Hon.  Mr.  Nelson,  and  delivered 
to  deponent  on  the  eve  of  his  departure,  was  an  unsealed 
one  to  the  Hon.  William  H,  Seward,  Secretary  of  State, 
which,  as  Mi\  Nelson  is  no  longer  in  office,  deponent  has 
not  delivered,  but  a  copy  of  which  he  annexes  hereto, 
marked  A,  the  original  being  in  deponent's  possession,  and 
ready  to  be  produced  under  the  direction  of  the  Court. 

Immediately  upon  deponent's  arrival  in  this  country, 
as  aforesaid,  he  had  an  interview  with  the  Chilian  Min- 
ister, and  very  soon  thereafter  delivered  several  lectures 
and  speeches  in  this  city,  for  the  purpose  of  presenting 
the  war  in  Chili  in  its  true  light  of  honor,  patriotism  and 
justice  against  the  atrocity  of  the  attack  on  the  part  of 
Spain;  that  those  demonstrations  were  made  in  the  pres- 
ence of  thousands  of  the  citizens  of  New  York  at  the 
Cooper  Institute,  and  at  various  other  public  places  in 
this  city.  That  for  the  same  purpose  he  has  made  several 
publications  in  pamphlet  form,  and  in  the  journals  of  this 
city,  and  has  issued  a  newspaper  in  the  Spanish  language, 
under  the  title  of  La  Voz  de  la  America,  of  which  several 
numbers  have  been  published. 

Deponent  was  in  Washington  in  the  month  of  January 
last  for  several  days,  and  during  that  time  resided  in  the 


123 

house  of  the  Chilian  Minister,  as  a  member  of  his  family. 
Whilst  deponent  Avas  there,  Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of 
State,  was  absent  from  the  country,  and  Mr.  Hunter,  who 
acted  as  such,  was  invited  to  dine  with  the  Chilian  Minis- 
ter, who  presented  deponent  to  Mr.  Hunter  as  Secretary 
of[the  Chilian  Legation,  and  deponent  was  also  introduced 
as  such,  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  at  a 
public  reception,  and,  upon  other  occasions,  toLieutenant- 
General  Grant,  Major-General  Sherman,  and  to  several 
other  high  official  persons. 

Deponent  further  says  he  holds  in  his  possession  a  doc- 
ument in  the  Spanish  language,  in  the  handwriting  of 
the  Chilian  Minister,  and  signed  by  him,  under  the 
seal  of  the  Chilian  Embassy  at  Washington,  an  exact  copy 
of  which  document  is  hereunto  annexed,  marked  B.  De- 
ponent now  holds  and  exercises  the  said  office  of  Secretary 
of  Legation,  and  is  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  im- 
munities thereof. 

Deponent  further  says  he  presents  the  foregoing  facts, 
and  claims  his  diplomatic  privileges  because  he  is  advised 
and  believes  he  ought  so  to  do,  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty 
to  hi^  Government,  and  not  because  he  has  in  any  manner 
violated  the  laws  or  institutions  of  the  United  States,  all 
of  which  he  has  ever  respected  and  observed. 

BENJ.  VICUNA  MACKENNA. 

Sworn  to  before  me,  this  tenth  of  February,  1866 

Edward  J.  Owen,  Notary  Public,  N.  Y. 


LETTER    OF    HON.    THOMAS    H.     NELSON    TO    MR.    SEWARD. 

\A.']  Legation   of  the  United  States,  > 

Santiago  de  Chili,  October  1,  1825.     j 

Eon.   Wm.  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  Washington: 

My  Dear  Sir: 

I  have  the  honor  of  introducing  to  you  the  eminent  his- 
torian, statesman  and  patriot,  Don  Benjamin  Vicuna 
Mackenna,  who  is  on  the  eve  of  starting  for  the  United 
States  to  represent  to  our  Government  and  people  the  con- 


124 

dition  of  affairs  in  this   country.     Implicit  faith  may  be 
given  to  all  that  he  may  say  on  the  subject. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  that  I  should  remind  you  that 
Mr.  Mackenna  has  ever  been  our  warm  and  steadfast  friend. 
In  the  Chilian  Congress,  in  public,  and  through  the  press, 
he  has  earnestly  and  eloquently  maintained  the  cause  of 
the  Union. 

I  sincerely  hope  that  he  will  be  received  with  the  consid- 
eration due  to  his  eminent  character  and  public  services. 
Very  respectfully. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

THOMAS  H.  NELSON. 


LETTER   OF    THE   CHILIAN    MINISTER  TO  MR.    Y.    MACKENNA. 

[B.]      Legation  of  Chili  in  the  United  States  ^ 

OF  North  America,     .       > 
Washington,  Nov.  22,        5.  ) 


Sir: 

The  Hon.  Secretary  of  State  of  Chili  informs  me  that, 
by  order  of  the  Supreme  Government,  your  Excellency 
has  been  appointed  Secretary  of  this  Legation,  with  the 
salary  assigned  by  law,  and  with  the  retention  of  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  according  to 
the  agreement  of  that  body:  the  which  I  have  the  honor 
to  communicate  to  your  Excellency  for  your  information., 

(Signed)  F.  S.   ASTA-BURUAGA. 


Explanatory  letter  of  Mr.  Asta-Buruaga  to  Mr.  E,  AV. 
Stoughton  : 
[C]  New  York,  Feb.  12. 

My  Dear  Sir: 

As  it  may  prove  of  interest  in  the  case  of  Sehor  Vicuna 
Mackenna,  in  which  you  are  counsel,  to  establish  his  char- 
acter, as  a  man  of  honor  and  truth,  in  its  real  light,  I 
deem  it  my  duty  to  state  to  you  that  I  forwarded  to  him, 
at  the  proper  time,  the  appointment  of  Secretary  of  Le- 
gation according  to  instructions  which  I  had  received  from 
my  Government. 

But  as  Mr.  Vicuna  Mackenna  had  not  yet  been  officially 


125 

presented  to  the  State    Department,  he  was  free  to  as- 
sume or  decline  that  position. 

This  circumstance  explains  why  the  honorable  Secretary 
of  State  informed  the  District- Attorney  that  Mr.  Mac- 
kenna  was  not  recorded  as  such  Secretary  at  the  State  De- 
partment; and,  at  the  same  time,  places  in  its  true  light 
the  telegram  which  I  sent  to  that  functionary,  stating  that 
Mr.  Mackenna  may  not  he  considered  as  Secretary,  for 
which  purpose  I  take  pleasure  in  sending  you  this  com- 
munication. 

I  have  the  honor  to  to  be. 

Your  obedient  servant, 
F.  S.  ASTA-BURUAGA,  Chilian  Minister. 

After  reading  the  above  documents,  Mr.  Stoughton  de- 
clared in  Mr.  Vicuna  Mackennn's  behalf  that  he  was  ready 
to  wave,.and  did  wave,  all  his  diplomatic  privileges  and 
immunities,  and  came  forward  to  be  tried  by  the  common 
law  of  the  country. 

The  Secretary  of  State,  Hon.  W.  H.  Seward,  had,  nev- 
ertheless, refused  to  grant  any  diplomatic  immunity  to  the 
Agent  of  Chili,  as  shown  in  the  following  telegram  and 
certificate: 

TELEGRAM. 

Washington,  Feb.  7. 

D.  S.  Dickinson,   United  States  District  Attorney. 

Benjamin  Vicuna  Mackenna  is  not  known  to  this  Gov- 
ernment as  having  any  diplomatic  privileges.  You  will 
proceed  accordingly. 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


certificate. 

United  States  of  America, 
Department  of  State. 
To  all  to  wJiom  these  presents  shall  come  greeting: 
I  certify  that  it  appears,  from  the  records  and  files  of 


126 

this  Department,  that  Benjamin  Vicuna  Mackenna  is  not 
now,  and  never  has  been.  Secretary  to  the  Chilian  Legation 
in  the  United  States,  and  that  he  is  not  and  never  has 
been  accredited  to  this  Government  in  any  capacity  which 
would  entitle  him  to  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  a 
diplomatic  agent,  pursuant  to  the  laws  of  nations  and  the 
Act  of  Congress  in  such  case  provided. 
In  testimony  whereof,  I,  William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of 

State  of  the  United  States,  have  hereunto  subscribed 
[ls]  my  name,  and  caused  the  seal  of  the  Department  of 

State  to  be  affixed. 
Done  at    the  city  of  Washington  this  twelfth  day  of 
February,   A.D.  1866,   and   of  the   Independence  of  the 
United  States  of  America  the  ninetieth. 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

The  trial,  after  these  preliminary  discussions,  has  been 
postponed  to  the  middle  of  April,  and  the  Confidential 
Agent  of  Chili  is  at  liberty  under  bail  of  ten  thousand 
dollars. 

What  the  result  of  this  trial  will  be  time  alone  will 
show. 

The  peo])le  of  the  United  States  will  be  called  upon 
to  pronounce  their  verdict  in  the  pending  question,  and  as 
far  as  the  opinion  of  its  representatives  goes,  we  know  its 
real  and  deep  significance  in  the  account  we  have  published 
of  the  meeting  of  January  6th. 

The  opinion  of  the  South  American  countries  is  not  yet 
known.  But  the  following  article,  published  on  February 
the  21st,  by  the  Mercantile  Chronicle,  of  Panama,  an 
able  interpreter  of  popular  feeling  among  the  republics  of 
the  Pacific,  gives  an  idea  of  what  will  be  the  feeling 
exhibited  toward  the  actual  policy  of  the  United  States 
in  those  "sister  republics:" 


THE  ARREST  OF  THE  CHILIAN  ENVOY. 

From  the  advices  just  received  from  New  York,  we 
learn  of  the  arrest  of  Seiior  Mackenna,  the  Special  agent 
of  the   Republic  of  Chili  to  the  United  States,    charged 


127 

with  a  breach  of  the  neutrality  laws.  This  action  is  some- 
what startling;  hut  when  we  consider  that  Secretary  Sew- 
ard has  but  recently  visited  Cuba,  and  '^'hobbed  and  nob- 
bed "  with  the  Captain  General,  we  are  not  surprised  at 
the  action  of  the  State  Department  even  of  the  free  and 
enlightened  United  States.  Secretary  Seward,  it  is  well 
known,  has  ix  penchant  for  "ro3'alty,"  and  that  may  give 
us  the  key,  possibly,  to  many  ot  his  anomalous  and  strange 
proceedings  that  damp  the  ardor  of  his  friends,  while  they 
offer  to  his  enemies  so  fruitful  a  theme  for  vituperation. 
In  a  land  where  the  "Monroe  Doctrine"  is  supposed  to 
have  such  a  vast  hold,  Sehor  Mackenna's  breach  of  the 
neutrality  laws  should  be  scarcely  of  any  moment  when 
placed  in  the  scale  against  the  preservation  of  republican 
freedom  ou  this  continent.  But  when  the  great  principle 
is  rejjudiated  in  the  case  of  Mexico,  it  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  a  sinular,  or  even  harsher  course  is  adopted 
toward  a  distant  sister  republic  like  Chili.  This  arrest 
was  made  at  the  instance  of  Spaniards  and  Spanish 
agents — not  United  States  citizens — and  it  remains  to  be 
seen  how  the  American  people  receive  it. 

In  contradistinction  to  the  above  case,  we  submit  the 
following:  "  Within  the  last  fortnight,  at  the  dead  of 
night,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  a  policeman  stopped  a 
suspicious-looking  individual  in  a  by-street,  driving  a 
wagon  loaded  with  boxes.  The  driver's  answers  were  un- 
satisfactory, he  was  arrested,  and  the  matter  brought  to 
the  notice  of  the  Superintendent  of  Police^  inasmuch  as 
the  load  consisted  of  military  accoutrements  and  clothing. 
Was  this,  too,  a  Chilian  entenprise  ?  By  no  means.  Col. 
0'3IaJion]/,  President  of  tJie  Irish  Republic,  just  dropped 
a  '  bit  of  a  note'  to  the  ofiicial  guardians  of  the  peace, 
stating  that  the  goods  were  his  propertTj,  and  iwesto,  they 
were  released  from  seizure." 

The  hope  has  been  for  a  long  time  held  out  to  Chili 
that  assistance  would  be  rendered  her  in  her  present  try- 
ing difficulties,  and  instead  thereof,  we  see  her  agent  ar- 
rested like  a  criminal,  while  every  encouragement  and  im- 
munity are  extended  to  a  lot  of  hot-headed,  crack-brained 
Irishmen  engaged  in  a  mad  and  hopeless  undertaking. 

In  sober  seriousness,  what  is  the  meaning  of  this  harsh, 
unusual  proceeding  ?  What  does  it  forebode  ?  "  Coming 
events  cast  their  shadows  before,"  and  we  look  upon  the 


128 

arre&t  of  Senor  Mackenna  as  an  evil  omen  for  Chili.  But 
how  has  this  sudden  change  come  about  ?  Is  Cuba  to  be 
the  price  paid  to  the  United  States  by  Spain  for  "  lending 
her  a  hand"  in  her  present  dosperate  efforts  to  crush  the 
South  American  Republics  ?     Who  knows  ! 

"  There  are  more  things  in  Heaven  and  earth,  Horatio, 
Than  are  dreamt  of  in  your  philosophy  !" 


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